The New Zealand wine industry has confirmed a record grape harvest this year.
All up, 445,000 tonnes have been picked - about about 60,000 tonnes more than last year.
New Zealand Winegrowers chair Steve Green said a run of fine but cool weather in most regions had helped with good flavour development, and he had high expectations for this year's vintage.
"Potentially some of the fruit that was harvested very late may not be up to the quality of the 2013 but overall it is a very good vintage and we are pretty happy about it. I think if we had had the rain two or three weeks earlier it would be a different story," Mr Green said.
There was confidence throughout the wine industry, with an annual survey of growers and wineries indicating more than 80 percent had a positive outlook for their businesses in the year ahead, he said.
