CENTRAL OTAGO

During the Central Otago gold rush in the 1860’s a French goldminer called Jean Desire Feraud, discovered gold near Alexandra.  Jean was from a winemaking family, and he quickly realized the regions potential for grape growing. 
Jean purchased land near Clyde called Monte Cristo.  He started planting vines and embarking upon small-scale commercial wine production.  He imported vines from Australia and by 1870 he had planted over 1200 vines and built a stone winery.  Jean even exhibited his Monte Christo wines in Sydney, and won wide recognition.  However, Jean struggled to find a market for his wine in New Zealand, a young country of sheep and cattle farmers, where beer drinking prevailed.  In 1882, Jean sold the Monte Christo vineyard and moved to Dunedin.  The vineyard was turned back into farmland.
In 1895 a visiting Italian viticulturist, Romeo Bragato, toured New Zealand on behalf of the government.  He enthused over the Central Otago regions wine growing potential, recording that “there was no stateable limit to the productiveness of the magnificent territory”.
Starting in the 1950’s, there was some small-scale trial plantings of vines, however it was not until the 1990’s that the industry began to grow rapidly.  In 1996, there were 11 wineries in the Central Otago region, today there are over 130.