page_title: Central Otago wine region
section_title: History of the wine region
hierarchical_section_title: Central Otago wine region / History of the wine region
caption_attribution_description: New Zealand Pinot noir from the Central Otago region
context_page_description: The Central Otago wine region is a geographic indication in New Zealand's South Island, and the world's southern-most commercial wine growing region. Central Otago is best known for Pinot Noir, but many white wine varieties are also popular.
context_section_description: Significant European occupation in this region started with the Central Otago Gold Rush in the 1860s. A French immigrant gold miner, Jean Desire Feraud, soon started planting vines and embarking upon small-scale commercial wine production — even winning medals in Australian wine competitions.  Late in the nineteenth century, the New Zealand government hired a winemaker to survey the country. While this early experimentation showed the wine-growing potential of the region, the wine industry did not survive for long on a commercial basis.
  Starting in the 1950s, and up through the end of the 1970s, small-scale trial plantings of vines began again both by private individuals and under the auspices of the New Zealand Department of Agriculture. By 1980 sufficient experience and confidence had been gained for small-scale commercial plantings to be made.
  Vineyard planting and production remained modest until the middle of the 1990s when the industry began to expand rapidly. In 1996 there were just 11 wineries in the Central Otago region, according to New Zealand Winegrowers, accounting for just 4.6% of the national total. By 2004 this had risen to 75 wineries and 16.2%. Over the same period, the area planted with vines rose from 92 hectares (1.4% of the national total) to 1,062 hectares (5.1%). Reflecting this rapid expansion, the long lead-time for planting to come into production, and the focus in Central Otago on quality wines rather than bulk wines, actual wine production accounted for only 0.5% (376 tonnes) of the New Zealand total in 1996, increasing to 0.9% (1,439 tonnes) in 2004.
caption: Pinot noir from Central Otago.
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