Local wines in a globally connected market: Comparing availability and appetite in two New Zealand destinations

Abstract

This research examines the interface of local wine and global taste through the restaurant scenes of two tourist destinations in New Zealand. Consumer interest in local wines overlaps with the culinary interests of tourists, but also contends with global trends in wine style, powerful wine brands, and the globalised sourcing of wine. Drawing on original insights from restaurateurs and sommeliers in Queenstown (in the Central Otago wine region) and Christchurch (in the North Canterbury wine region), we are asking: to what degree are wines from globally-renowned national and international regions filling menus at the expense of those wines produced in the destinations’ hinterlands? What chance is there for restaurant-goers to experience local terroir, as opposed to rehearsing widespread (and anticipated) choices? And how is the hospitality sector contributing to building the profile, market share, and value chains of lesser-known New Zealand wine regions and varietals. Generating data from interviews with hospitality ‘insiders’, and analysis of wine lists across the hotels and restaurants, our paper will provide evidence of the forces at play between the desire and ability to stock local wine, and the exigencies of food pairing, restaurant theme and pricing, and consumer taste. Issues we explore include the rationale for the choice of wines on the menu, what clients ask for and enjoy, food and wine pairing considerations, and reliability of wine supply, amongst broader interview questions about the business and their vision of wine within it. At this time of suspended international tourism in the response to Covid-19, and a sense that the experience of countrywide lockdown may have strengthened the desire to support local producers (e.g. the #backourbackyard and ‘Buy NZ Made’ promotions), we are also exploring the emerging impact of the need to ‘pivot to domestic’ tourists. As well as being of scholarly interest for the cultural and commercial place of wine, and the spatial imaginaries at work in the choice of consumer discretionary goods such as wine, the data generated of the commitment of hospitality providers to local wine will inform our understanding regional economic development and resilience in these uncertain times