Story: Alcohol

In the 1960s and 1970s New Zealanders developed a taste for wine. This was partly an effect of foreign travel to wine-drinking societies and partly a response to greater availability of wine, as New Zealand wine-growing and an international reputation for high-quality wine developed. Wine and cheese evenings such as this were one way new habits of wine drinking became established. Sometimes they were purely social occasions, but others were organised to educate New Zealanders about the range of wines being produced. Wine columns became common in magazines and newspapers.