Sorry I haven't got around to getting this info up. So here we go.

South of Auckland but north of Taupo a region renowned for its fertile and lush farming grounds was amongst NZ's first modern wine producing regions. This region- Waikato was the site of the NZ Viticultural Research centre first founded the 1950's. The focus onlower quality vines like Muller Thurgau and Muscat Dr Hogg meant that little attention was paid to either Chardonnay or Pinot Gris.

Waikato's soils are incredibly fertile with lots of ex swamp areas, so phosphates, pottasium, iron and nitrates are all evident in huge quanitities meaning that the vines are never stressed by enviroment. Add this to the regions average rainfall (about twice what Kumeu is) and you have a problematic region at best.

Waikato's fertile soils don't really promote good quality dry table wine, but the one area that the Waikato does produce excellent wine is in dessert wines. Low lying mists from the River Waikato (NZ's largest and longest river) allow good growth of Botrytis. Chardonnay planted there in the 70's (NZ's oldest Chardonnay vines)is now only utilised to produce rich powerful dessert wines. These honeyed and apricot dominated wines are lush and are amongst NZ's top (if some what least produced) dessert wines. The unusual bottle shape (like a baton) has been used to give some marketing depth to these relatively unknown but excellent wines.

The dry table chardonnay of the Waikato is well worth missing. What makes the great dessert wine makes great problems for the dry table wines. The few I have tried have shown botrytis infection leaving a bitter phenol dominated palate. trellising systems and netting have been used to combat the many problems but to my mind Waikato will never produce Chardonnay in a dry style to any serious level of quality. Most wineries in the region now source their grapes from other regions for their dry white wines.

The best dessert wines from the Waikato are produced under the Rongopai label.

Pinot Gris is a rarity in Waikato with only two wineries producing wines from Wiakato fruit- personally they were wasting their time. The lack of acidic soils in Waikato has produced sickly sweet flabby wines with little merit. Outside of the dessert wines Waikato is really a region worth missing.

In contrast the Bay of Plenty has several wineries of merit, mostly however these wineries source their fruit from other regions (mostly Hawkes Bay- only two hours down the rail line, but six hours by car.)However the one wine that the Bay of Plenty does produce well is Sparkling. Two producers of merit are Mills Reef and Morton Estate. Both have made their names in other wines but both produce sparkling from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes planted ornamently around their tasting rooms and wineries.

In 1990 Morton Estate decided that the Mendoza Chardonnay clones and 10/5 Pinot Clones were being wasted and so played around with making some bubbles. It was this bubbles that scored 5 stars in Cuisine, a Gold in the Air NZ challenge and shocked the NZ wine industry into looking further than Marlborough , Gisborne or Hawkes Bay for serious alternatives to wine making and grape produce.

Morton Estate does produce a Chardonnay specifically from Bay of Plenty fruit but it is dilute IMO.

Mills Reef makes a bubbles from 80% Chardonnay from fruit situated around their Tauranbge Winery. A very good product.

Pinot Gris from the Bay of Plenty is a waste of time.

Since 1984 Gisborne was labeled as the King of NZ chardonnay. With Gisborne cleaning up internationally in Chardonnay since 1984 many wineries moved there. The soils and average sun shine hours both seemed good reason to produce chardonnay and other varietals.

Sadly this was a little pre-mature. The rainfall although relatively low comes at around the time harvest occurs. Making it problematic and open to such issues as Rot, berry burst, powdery mildew and other nefarious problems.

However when Gisborne vineyards get a good vintage the chardonnay produced is stunning. The soils in particular seem to have the right balance for good grape production (truffles are also produced in excellent levels in the region.)and Gisborne fruit is oppulent in flavour.

Typical flavours are orange, mango, peach, occasionally melon and pear. The style of Gisborne is dominated by the primary Chardonnay clone planted- mendoza. So big rich Charonnays dominate with heavy use of new French and US oak. Malo-lactic fermentation and extended lees contact are both regularly utilised, providing the biggest chardonnay in NZ with the possible exception of Martinborough.

The occasional downside of Gisborne chardonnay is that it can be inffected by botrytis (some bot Chardonnays are also made here in the right vintages) producing "dour" chardonnays. However for the most part a Gisborne chardonnay is a safe bet.

Labels I would look out for- Milton Clos' St Anne Chardonnay, Brancott Ormond Estate Chardonnay, Revington Chardonnay and Matawhero Reserve Chardonnay.

Pinot Gris isn't grown much at all in Gisborne although Milton vineyards are expriementing with it.

Next time the big two Chardonnay regions- Hawkes Bay and Martinborough.