The business of Gisborne wine with Mark Thompson from GisVin

This show was published Friday, February 6, 2026

Overview

Mark Thompson is the head winemaker at GisVin and chair of the local Gisborne Winegrowers Association. There are around 50 growers across 1,260 hectares of vineyards, planted with Chardonnay (37%) and Sauvignon Blanc (39%) Pinot Gris (20%) Albarino (2%) and others (2%).

Bulk wine provides an opportunity to achieve economies of scale by sending wine in containers, maintaining the same level of quality as bottled wine. In NZ, the split between bulk and bottled wine is 50:50.

The market in Gisborne is characterised by its boutique growers who typically use contract winemakers to produce their wines. The main three players are Indevin (Villa Maria), GisVin and the Gisborne Wine Company (Solander). There are only a few producers who have their own winemaking facilities such as Wrights Vineyard and Matawhero.

Note: GisVin is a contract winemaking and grape juicing facility located in Gisborne, New Zealand, established in 2001 by four local growers. It processes a significant portion of Gisborne’s annual grape harvest, offering world-class winemaking services to wineries without their own production facilities.

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Music

The music used for the UK Wine Show is Griffes de Jingle 1 by Marcel de la Jartèle and Silence by Etoile Noire.