Toast Martinborough, the annual wine show has been able to raise the spirits but not for the wine growers.

They are facing the double edged sword of domestic price war and adverse currency exchange rates. It is making the things even tougher for them. The situation is so bad that in some cases the wine is sold below the half of past asking rates.

Meanwhile, the festival is the 19th one and as usual there were a lot of selling. Some 10,000 tickets were pre-sold in a matter of just 20 minutes.

The wine festival is a means for branding the wine and is seen as a bright spot in both the local as well as the international market.

The prices have dropped since there is a wine surplus and that is making even the best of the wines to be sold below their old prices. Soft currency market and there has been a slowing of demand are the culprits for the falling prices.

Some wine growers like Richard Riddiford, owner of Palliser Estate believe that this is the toughest year that they have seen till now.