BIGGER SALES OF N.Z. WINES

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28472, 30 December 1957, Page 12

BIGGER SALES OF N.Z. WINES

Demand In Christmas Period

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 29.

New Zealand wines have enjoyed greater popularity during the Christmas period because their quality has improved, according to the proprietor of a leading wine shop in Wellington. “Our wines are more mellow and better seasoned than before,” he said. The wines most in demand were ports and sherries, and dry red or white table wines. New Zealand now fermented more than 80 different types of wines, most of them in Hawke's Bay or to the north of Auckland. New Zealanders were becoming more wine conscious, he said. They were also discovering that to drink wine was as cheap as to drink beer. Wines were the most delicate of alcoholic beverages and were best suited to quiet social drinking or to be taken with meals.

New Zealand was capable of producing wines equal to those produced anywhere in the world, he said. It was unfair to compare the wines of one country with wines of another. They differed according to soil and temperatures. The wine industry in New Zealand had come to stay, he said. With continually improving manufacturing techniques, it should thrive.