Marlborough, New Zealand's largest wine region, is planning to add the size of the Hawke's Bay wine region, and some, over the next two years.
Marlborough's 24,000 hectares of vineyard is expected to be boosted by a further 6800 hectares by 2019/20.
Hawke's Bay, the second largest wine producing region in New Zealand, has a vineyard area of 4744ha.
Wine Marlborough general manager Marcus Pickens said the region was "right on track" to meet the estimates.
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He said the growth showed how Marlborough's wine sector was outperforming the rest of the country.
"I'm inclined to say 'yes it is' [outperforming] ... any wine sector growing like that would be a surprise, let alone in New Zealand.
"We're also trying to tell the community that the growth is a good outcome for the region. It does add more jobs, it creates more wealth, it's more spend in our regional economy and that's fantastic," Pickens said.
The majority of the growth was happening in the "Wairau area" but other parts of the region were seeing growth as well, he said.
"The biggest would be in the upper Wairau Valley, then Northbank and then Awatere," Pickens said.
The growth in the industry came with responsibilities that the wine industry needed to "tick off quite proactively", he said.
"We need to be building more stand alone accommodation for the larger workforce that will be coming along. People are here for longer, maybe not longer as individuals but there is a workforce year-round instead of seasonal.
"For things like that, it's not the council we look to, [in order] to solve problems, it's up to the wine industry to solve our own problems and be ahead of the curve," Pickens said.
The next big focus for the region to showcase the growth was wine tourism, he said.
"Quite a few visitors already remark on the fact that Marlborough has grown faster than other large wine regions in the world.
"You only plant a vineyard if you can sell it and that's probably something New Zealand has done well, is ensuring we keep pace in market demand and not over supplying the market," Pickens said.
The next step for the region's wine sector was to attract labour, he said.
"We certainly need young people to come and work in Marlborough, we need to attract school leavers to stay and work here. We need people from outside Marlborough to come and live here," Pickens said.
Constellation Brands vice president of viticulture David Sheard said the company had doubled its Marlborough vineyard plantation from 1000 to 2000ha since 2014.
Marlborough wine was what the market demanded in North America, Sheard said.
"The drive has been [Marlborough] sauvignon blanc in Kim Crawford. It's the biggest white wine in Canada and it's New Zealand's biggest selling sauvignon blanc in the US by volume and value," he said.
The climate characteristics of Marlborough made its wine stand out, he said.
"That's why the industry has built itself up here, because Marlborough sauvignon blanc is different and is the world leader in sauvignon blanc.
"Other folks around the world that are looking at sauvignon blanc are looking at us," Sheard said.
"The industry is so big in Marlborough compared to elsewhere in New Zealand that even a 5 per cent growth is a significant amount of area.
"We're getting to 30,000ha in Marlborough, you look at a 5 per cent growth, which is single digit growth, that's 1500 to 2000ha a year," Sheard said.
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