Gisborne

New Zealand winegrowing region located on the far eastern point of the North Island around the city of Gisborne, about 280 miles southeast of Auckland. Its sits on the edge of Poverty Bay, which this region is sometimes called. The Gisborne region lies about 135 miles north of hawke's bay on the same side of the island, but it has about 30 percent more rainfall and proportionately less sunshine. Although viticultural activity started in the 1920s it wasn't until the 1960s that the area began rapid expansion. It became known for its inexpensive bag-in-a-box wines based primarily on müller-thurgau which was Gisborne's most widely planted variety at the time. In the late 1980s, wineries began to realize that higher-quality wines could be produced here and began to shift away from Müller-Thurgau. During the 1990s, chardonnay began to take over and now comprises about half the vineyards. With this emphasis on high-quality Chardonnay, the region has crowned itself as the "Chardonnay Capital of New Zealand." Of the region's approximately 5,000 acres, most are devoted to white-wine varieties, such as chenin blanc, gewürztraminer, and riesling. Only about 10 percent of the vineyards are planted with red varieties.