Though a growth was noticed in the wine industry during the last year, growers are expecting lower profits this year, with supermarkets pushing down wine prices.

An increase by 24% was noticed in Wine exports to $992 million, with the number of wineries lifting 58 to 643. Furthermore, a growth by 29% to 60 million liters was seen in domestic sales of New Zealand wines.

While imports of wine plunged 18.5 per cent to 33.3 million, the strong demand from Australia, the UK and America helped in healthy export growth.

Stuart Smith, chairman of New Zealand Winegrowers, said that due to over-supply, the industry faces lower profits this year. He added that since there was such a shortage of supply, wine had been selling itself. But now the trend is changing.

The price has further been pushed down due to retailers buying wine in bulk, and often bottling it under opportunistic retailer-owned brands.

Smith concluded: "The industry has to get its house in order and should only produce the amount of wine it can sell under its own label and leave the rest of the grapes on the vines. Effective management of supply is fundamental to the future success of the wine industry."