They are always looking for new sites and new grape varieties to make new styles of wine.
One of those who keeps pushing boundaries is the jovial Australian, John Hancock, of Trinity Hill in Hawkes Bay, who has been in New Zealand for most of his working life.
He finds grape varieties from other parts of Europe irresistible.
He makes arneis, a full-bodied white from a north Italian grape variety, montepulciano, a rich, red grape from central Italy, and touriga nacional, a red grape from Portugal used to make port and in dry reds.
Trinity Hill is so far making a rich vintage-port-style wine from it and in future intends to make a tawny style as well.
But the most exciting and promising unusual variety, already with seven vintages behind it, is tempranillo, a Spanish red grape variety used in many of its red wines.
Its most famous and distinctive Spanish incarnation is in Rioja.
To launch the 2007 Trinty Hill Tempranillo, they held a vertical tasting of all the tempranillos from 2002.
They were fragrant and intense with a gentle but firm aftertaste.
I was struck by how user-friendly they were - more so than some of the Hawkes Bay syrahs that are so much the rage at present.
As people have jumped on the syrah bandwagon there's too much of the lean, green stuff around at too high a price.
Trinity Hill's Tempranillo isn't cheap at about $30, but it's delicious and good with food.
It has good concentration and plenty of flavour without the grippy tannins of some of the bigger Hawkes Bay reds, such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot or syrah.
According to winemaker Warren Gibson, tempranillo ripens early and, even in cooler years like 2003, makes a very drinkable wine that mellows with a few years bottle age.
In recent years a small proportion of other varieties, such as cabernet or syrah or touriga nacional, have been blended with it.
Hancock used to say he disliked sauvignon blanc, so it's ironic to see his newest venture is a 35ha vineyard about 200m above sea level, in the cooler limestone-based rolling hills between Hastings and Waipawa planted mainly with sauvignon blanc, some pinot noir and a little chardonnay.
It is a joint venture with the French House of Pascal Jolivet, which is based in Sancerre, the French home of sauvignon blanc.
The aim is to produce Hawkes Bay sauvignon blanc for the American and British markets.
Hancock now has to admit it's the fruity Marlborough style of sauvignon blanc he doesn't like!
