New Zealand, when it comes to wine, is certainly mostly famous for its iconic Sauvignon Blanc wines.
It is probably fair-enough in a way, since the Sauvignon grape accounts for over 70% of the country’s wine output, with the region of Marlborough producing by in large the most important quantities.
About New Zealand’s Most Expensive Wines
But if you thought quality Kiwi wine was only about Sauv Blanc, the list below of the most expensive New Zealand wines will be even more enlightening to you and reveal that the country is able to produce world-class bottles from varied grape varieties and styles.
From Waiheke Island or Matakana in the North Island, to Canterbury in the South and through the Hawkes Bay, Martinborough, Marlborough, or Central Otago, all wine regions of New Zealand have demonstrated both the potential of their terroir AND the talent and savoir-faire of Kiwi winemakers.
Unsurprisingly perhaps for those who have spent time in New Zealand, you will find that many of the top most-expensive NZ wines are from the small island of Waiheke.
Beyond the quality of the wines produced on this beautiful island in Auckland Harbour, these are in high demand due to the proximity of these vineyards from the economic capital of New Zealand, the high production cost in this remote location, and the scarcity of the grapes grown on boutique estates.
Watch & Learn More about New Zealand Wine in Video:
The different regions that makes the varied styles of New Zealand wine, the best wineries from Marlboroug, Martingborough or Hawke’s Bay, and more…
Learn more about what makes the essence of NZ wine with the 5 Top Facts Kiwi vino in the video below:
Learn More About New Zealand Wines
If you’re interested in learning more about Kiwi wines, we’ve compiled everything you need to know about it, from the different regions, climates, top grape varieties and best wineries. Find all of this and more by clicking through to New Zealand Wine: Map, Regions, Grape Varieties, History or tap on the image below…
Top 25 Most Expensive/Best New Zealand Wines for 2018
Below are listed, by decreasing average worldwide price and with a short description and video when available, the Top 25 Most Expensive (and arguably the best?) wines from New Zealand.
Links to every winery website is supplied for an easy access to further information from the producers themselves. Enjoy ?
1 – Destiny Bay Magna Praemia, Waiheke Island
Average Price: $322 – €276 – £246
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot
What is it about? Grown on Waiheke Island in the Auckland harbor by iconic winery Destiny Bay, Magna Praemia is a blend is dominated by press fractions of Cabernet Sauvignon and is reminiscent of a “Left Bank” Bordeaux-style wine.
Optimum balance and character are achieved through the addition of free-run and press fractions of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. Fine, dense tannins give this wine great structure and long-term ageing potential. The name Magna Praemia is Latin for “great rewards.”
Maturation took place for 10-15 months in 50% French Oak & 50% American Oak barrels (cooperage: 50% new barrels, 50% 1-2-year barrels).
Destiny Bay ages its wines for 2-3 years prior to release to ensure they can be enjoyed from the time you receive them. Only about 2010 cases were produced (2014 vintage).
Winery Website: destinybaywine.com
Watch it in Video
2 – Stonyridge Vineyard Larose, Waiheke Island
Average Price: $203 – €174 – £155
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carménère
What is it about? Stonyridge Vineyard was conceived and operated with the sole intention of making world-class Bordeaux-style red wine. Larose is classic Cabernet-dominant blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Carménère, named Larose as a tribute to the rose, the most aromatic, colorful, intense, and beautiful of all flowers.
The vineyard site was chosen specifically to produce this style of wine. The gentle north-facing slopes of the vineyard are sheltered from the cold southwesterly winds by the ridge which gives the vineyard its name. Summer temperatures regularly reach over 30°C with the highest temperature being 36°C. Combined with north-facing rows and excellent viticulture, the grapes achieve perfect ripeness in normal years.
Stonyridge Larose 2015 was scored 94+ Points by Robert Parkers The Wine Advocate in March 2017.
About 1600 Cases produced (vintage 2014).
Winery Website: stonyridge.com
Watch it in Video
3 – Providence Private Reserve Red, Matakana
Average Price: $197 – €168 – £150
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec
What is it about? The Private Reserve is the demonstration of Providence know-how for making Bordeaux-style reds. From a blend dominated by Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with a smaller proportion of Malbec, produced in Matakana in the North of the North Island of New Zealand.
Winery Website: providencewines.com
4 – Destiny Bay Mystae, Waiheke Island
Average Price: $195 – €167 – £149
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot
What is it about? This blend is a balance between the power of Cabernet and the fruit characters of Merlot.
Blended from all five Bordeaux varietals, Mystae typically begins with a bouquet of developed fruit that will increase in complexity under proper cellar conditions for a decade or more.
The “Mystae” were ancient Greek philosophers and followers of Dionysus (the Greek God of Wine), who sought a deeper understanding of the universe’s mysteries.
Aged 10-15 months in French & American Oak (about 50% new).
Winery Website: destinybaywine.com
See it in Video
5 – Mazuran’s Vintage Port, Henderson
Average Price: $172 – €147 – £131
What is it about? The king of ports, Vintage Port is only made in exceptional years from the ripest and best grapes. Port takes on a luscious, velvety richness and develops toffee, nut and coffee flavors of an aged tawny, but with riper, more pronounced fruit elements.
Vintage Ports at Mazuran’s, a winery located in Henderson in the Eastern suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand, are available in many old vintages through to the 1940’s with a complex and rich, almost assuming a liqueur like quality.
Winery Website: mazurans.com
6 – Providence Four Apostles, Matakana
Average Price: $145 – €124 – £111
Grape Varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Syrah
What is it about? Providence is located in the rolling hills of the Matakana region, 60 kilometers north of Auckland.
The vineyard is situated between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Rodney Ranges (standing at over 400 meters) 2 kilometers to the west.
Due to these features, the area enjoys a microclimate, noted for low rainfall and high sunshine hours, ideal to produce the best red wine in New Zealand.
Blend of Merlot 34% Cabernet Franc 25% Malbec 21% Syrah 20% (proportions for the 2008 vintage, 13%alc.).
Winery Website: providencewines.com
7 – Martinborough Vineyard Marie Zelie Reserve Pinot Noir, Wairarapa
Average Price: $143 – €122 – £109
Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
What is it about? Hermance Frere was the first winemaker in the Wairarapa region, South of the Northern Island of New Zealand, also referred to as Martinborough. She planted vines there in the late 19th Century.
Decades later her great, great niece married Derek Milne – a pioneer of modern day Martinborough winemaking and one of the founders of Martinborough Vineyard. We have named this wine in honor of her pioneering spirit which we see reflected in our company’s history. In truly exceptional years only, we release a very limited amount of our Marie Zelie Reserve Pinot Noir.
This special wine reflects the very best of Martinborough Vineyard, made from the oldest Pinot Noir vines on the estate.
Winery Website: martinborough-vineyard.co.nz
Watch it in Video
8 – Providence Syrah, Matakana
Average Price: $141 – €121 – £108
Grape Variety: Syrah
Winery Website: providencewines.com
9 – Bell Hill Pinot Noir, Canterbury
Average Price: $122 – €104 – £93
Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
What is it about? Bell Hill vineyard is a long-term project driven by a desire to realize the full potential of this lime-rich terroir. Bell Hill is in the Weka Pass area of North Canterbury on the South Island of New Zealand.
Bell Hill produced their first Pinot Noir from 2003 vintage, a blend of the Shelf, Limeworks and Quarry Rootlings blocks (all Dijon and Pommard clones).
In the future, when all plantings are completed and in production, the winery will be considering the release of single block wines that show very individual characters. The vineyard called ‘The Shelf’ in particular is one of these blocks that looks like it has this potential.
Winery Website: bellhill.co.nz
10 – Puriri Hills Pope, Clevedon
Average Price: $122 – €104 – £93
Grape Varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Carménère.
What is it about? Winemakers and Owners: Judy Fowler and Phil Nunweek. Consulting winemaker: Evert Nijzink.
Puriri Hills’ wines were originally inspired by the blends of St Emilion and Pomerol. Merlot and Carménère, a lost Bordeaux variety, are supported by cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and Malbec. The Carménère came to us from northern Italy as a clone of cabernet franc, but later genetic fingerprinting proved it to be Carménère.
All fruit is grown, and all wine produced on the estate overlooking the Hauraki Gulf at Clevedon, southeast of Auckland.
In the winery, bunches were 100% destemmed and 80% crushed into oak cuves or stainless steel open-top fermenters. Ferments were cold soaked for 4-5 days to allow wild yeast development, then inoculated with oenological yeasts. Total time on skins ranged from 3-4 weeks depending on the varietal and the character desired.
Free run wines were put to barrel and marc was lightly basket pressed. All wine was barrel-aged in French oak, about 75% new, for ca. 21 months before final blending. The wine was not fined or sterile-filtered. It was bottled under cork on the estate and will be aged in bottle for three years before release.
Winery Website: puririhills.com
11 – Church Road Tom Red, Hawke’s Bay
Average Price: $121 – €103 – £92
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
What is it about? Full-bodied Bordeaux blend red wine is only produced in exceptional vintages and aims at showcasing the best the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand’s North Island can produce.
Crafted from grapes hand harvested from low-yielding vineyards on the Gimblett Gravels, this wine was made using traditional winemaking techniques to emphasize complexity of flavor, aroma, power and elegance on the palate with a structure that provides the wine great ageing potential.
Fermented in oak vats and aged in French oak barrels.
Winery Website: church-road.co.nz
Check Out our Church Road Winery Profile
12 – Te Motu Red, Waiheke Island
Average Price: $115 – €99 – £88
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc
What is it about? Old world-inspired (Bordeaux) blend of cabernet, merlot and cabernet franc.
Winery Website: temotu.co.nz
Related Read: Top 50 Most Expensive Wines in the World
13 – Bell Hill Chardonnay, Canterbury
Average Price: $113 – €96 – £86
Grape Variety: Chardonnay
What is it about? The Bell Hill Chardonnay from 2004 vintage, the current release, is showing promise as having great transparency in expressing the soil and delivering this in the glass. Bell Hill winery made small evaluation lots of Chardonnay from 2002 and 2003 vintages and feel the 2004 is a real step toward achieving a terroir-driven style of Chardonnay.
The Bell Hill Chardonnay has minerality and flinty complexity, integrated and lengthening acidity and tight structure with slow development that opens up with time.
Winery Website: bellhill.co.nz
14 – Clearview Estate Endeavour Chardonnay, Hawke’s Bay
Average Price: $106 – €91 – £81
Grape Variety: Chardonnay
What is it about? Endeavour is made using selected hand-picked fruit, from the winery estate’s oldest Mendoza vines. The free-run juice was run directly to barrel without clarification.
The juice underwent fermentation with its own naturally occurring wild yeasts. Regular lees stirring protected the wine through its first winter then natural malo-lactic fermentation took place in the spring as temperatures warmed up.
The wine spends in total 29 months ageing in new oak barrels.
Winery Website: clearviewestate.co.nz
15 – Destiny Bay Destinae, Waiheke Island
Average Price: $100 – €85 – £76
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
What is it about? Composed of free-run and press-fractions found in both Mystae and Magna Praemia, the name ‘Destinae’ captures the essence of all Destiny Bay wines. With a higher percentage of Merlot, this blend is more “Right Bank” Bordeaux in style. Approachable at a young age, Destinae offers complex dark fruit aromas and has the potential to age for a decade or more.
Winery Website: destinybaywine.com
16 – Esk Valley The Terraces, Hawke’s Bay
Average Price: $98 – €84 – £75
Grape Varieties: Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc
What is it about? The Terraces is associated with excellence, the best Esk Valley Estate can do.
Since its inaugural 1991 vintage only 13 vintages have been produced (only produced in great vintages) and for the first time in Esk history they bottled their third consecutive vintage with the 2015 vintage.
The winery is committed to an ongoing conversion to organic production which includes eliminating chemical treatments and foregoing irrigation.
Malbec and Merlot (35 per cent) are typically the major grapes in the blend, supplemented by Cabernet Franc.
The Terraces is a steep, north west facing vineyard originally planted in the 1940’s and then re-established with its current plantings in 1989. It occupies approximately 1 hectare and is planted with Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The soils are complex, containing layers of seashells and limestone, interspersed with clay and volcanic ash. Fertility is quite low, and the vines are thinned to one bunch per shoot and harvested by hand.
Winery Website: eskvalley.co.nz
17 – Framingham F-Series Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, Marlborough
Average Price: $96 – €82 – £73
Grape Variety: Riesling
What is it about? Framingham boasts some of the oldest Riesling vines in Marlborough that they planted first in the Wairau Valley back in 1981.
The F-series showcases the winery’s savoir-faire, in particular around producing late harvest Riesling dessert wines. F-series Trockenbeerenauslese is a special selection, a blend of 3 Auslese picks from bunches selected from the “middle” (75%) and “back” old vines (25%) vineyards with 100% botrytis-affected raisined berries.
It was fermented in stainless kegs and barrels (35% and old wood (35%). 9.0% alcohol abv. and 310 g/l residual sugars.
Winery Website: framingham.co.nz
18 – Amisfield RKV Rocky Knoll Vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir, Central Otago
Average Price: $90 – €77 – £69
Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
What is it about? Grapes for RKV are grown on the north and south facing rocky knoll of Block 1. The Lochar soils are very gravelly with a very thin layer of loose sandy loam. This renders the soil rather unforgiving due to its low water holding capacity. The roots have to search deep and the vines are small, thus naturally producing lower yields.
Hand harvested and fermented naturally with a portion of whole cluster. Some parcels of fruit fermented within the vines from which they grew. Total time on skins between 25 and 30 days after which the wine was pressed off and matured in 30% new French barriques for spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked and returned to barrel
before being Estate bottled unfined and unfiltered in October 2016.
Winery Website: amisfield.co.nz
19 – Stonyridge Vineyard Luna Negra Malbec, Waiheke Island
Average Price: $89 – €76 – £68
Grape Variety: Malbec
What is it about? Malbec’s inherent weakness is that it can overcrop and become diluted and flabby. But our steep northeast-facing slope and low cropping produces a “Black Moon” Malbec that is thoroughbred.
Stonyridge says of it that “Drinking Luna Negra is like doing an energetic salsa with a Cuban beauty queen”!
Winery Website: stonyridge.com
20 – Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir, Bannockburn
Average Price: $85 – €73 – £65
Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
What is it about? Considerable research by Stewart Elms (hence the Elm tree logo) in 1991 identified the north facing slopes at the end of Felton Road, Bannockburn as being one of the warmest and most ideal sites in Central Otago for the growing and production of premium wine.
Felton Road grows organic grapes only using the principles of biodynamics and produces a series of single block wines, Pinot Noirs in particular (Black 5, Black 3, Calvert, Cornish Point or Bannockburn).
Winery Website: feltonroad.com
21 – Kusuda Pinot Noir, Martinborough
Average Price: $84 – €72 – £64
Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
What is it about? 100% destemmed, cold soaked for 5 to 8 days. Fermented in open stainless-steel vats with pumping-over and hand plunging, total period of maceration 23 to 25 days. Aged in French (22% new) oak barriques for 17 months. Unfined and bottled with coarse filtration.
About 6000 bottles produced (vintage 2011).
Winery Website: kusudawines.co
22 – Trinity Hill Homage Syrah, Gimblett Gravels
Average Price: $83 – €71 – £63
Grape Varieties: Syrah – Viognier
What is it about? Hawke’s Bay is the second largest wine producing region in New Zealand and is home to some of the oldest wineries still in existence. The region covers a total land area of 1.4 million hectares on 350km of Pacific Ocean coastline.
Four major rivers flow down from the mountains and their meandering paths have created a range of soils. Hawke’s Bay producers have recognized the regions ability to grow a diverse number of varieties depending on the site.
At Trinity Hill the varieties that require less heat have been planted in the cooler areas to retain their crisp freshness. Hawke’s Bay is however responsible for 85% of New Zealand production of the Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet varieties and Trinity Hill grows those in the warmer areas to ensure optimal ripening. The Hawke’s Bay Homage range of wines is the top end of their wine production.
Find out all my reviews of Trinity Hill Wines (tap on image below)
Winery Website: trinityhill.com
23 – Pyramid Valley Vineyards Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay, Canterbury
Average Price: $83 – €71 – £63
Grape Variety: Chardonnay
What is it about? Pyramid Valley has developed four vineyards over the last fifteen years, two of Pinot Noir, and two of Chardonnay. Their unusual shapes and differing sizes have been determined by describing, and then adhering to, discrete areas of homogenous soil and aspect. Each block is vinified and bottled separately, as an expression of its specific place.
The vineyard names are derived from common names of predominant weed species in each block. As soil conditions change, our weed mix responds accordingly. We have managed these vineyards biodynamically from the very beginning, doing so by hand for our first two tractor-less years. It’s perhaps little surprise then, that we’ve become somewhat intimate with (and even fond of) our weed population.
Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay was named for the common dandelion (from the French dent de lion), whose serrated leaves resemble feline teeth. Dandelion is a spectacularly well-balanced plant and is very useful: its early leaves are delicious in salads, its root can be used to make a tonic coffee-like drink, and its flowers engender both wine, and biodynamic preparation 506.
Winery Website: pyramidvalley.co.nz
24 – Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir, Bannockburn
Average Price: $80 – €68 – £61
Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
What is it about? See description for Felton Road single block Pinots above (Block 5).
Winery Website: feltonroad.com
25 – Pyramid Valley Vineyards Angel Flower Pinot Noir, Canterbury
Average Price: $80 – €68 – £61
Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
What is it about?
See above description of Pyramid Valley’s winemaking philosophy (wine #23 Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay).
Angel Flower Pinot Noir name was derived from ‘yarrow’, a lovely grassland and pasture plant with very fine, fennel-like leaves, and a brilliant, composite mass of delicate white flowers. Yarrow is the basis of biodynamic preparation 502 and has a strong association with heat and light.
Winery Website: pyramidvalley.co.nz
Other Top Most-Expensive Wine Lists To Explore:
[/content_box]If you’re interested in wine prices, you should also check out our 8 Things You Should Know about Investing in Wine.
This list of the Top 25 most expensive New Zealand wines in the world was retrieved from the biggest wine price database in the world at Wine-Searcher.com as per May 2018, you can see the original list here. Note that to be included on the list, a wine must have at least 10 offers worldwide across at least four vintages. Prices are ex-tax worldwide averages for 750ml bottles.
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