Exporting NZ grape wine: export eligibility, OMARs and MPI Trade Certification explained

Exporting New Zealand grape wine is a two-layer process. First the wine must meet New Zealand’s own rules under the Wine Act 2003, the Wine Regulations 2021 and MPI’s Wine Notices. Then it must meet any extra requirements of the country it is going to, set out in MPI’s Overseas Market Access Requirements (OMARs). Most of the work happens in MPI Trade Certification, which replaced Wine e-Cert on 25 November 2024. This guide walks through the steps for NZ grape wine — fruit wine, cider, mead and wine from non-NZ grapes follow a different pathway.

1. Make and package the wine under a verified WSMP

Wine for export must be made and packaged — including filling bulk containers — under a registered Wine Standards Management Plan, at your own facility or the contract facility you use. The plan must be verified within six months of registration or before your first export, whichever comes first, and every 12 months after that.

Two traps: wine made outside a registered WSMP (for example under a small winemaker exemption) that is blended into WSMP wine makes that wine ineligible for export; and any adjustment made during off-site storage or bottling must be made under a WSMP verified annually. If you export wine produced and branded by someone else, you don’t need your own WSMP, but the producer and packager must have one.

2. Check the OMAR for your market

OMARs cover extra labelling and official-assurance requirements and rules on winemaking practices. MPI currently publishes wine OMARs for four markets: the United States, the European Union, Great Britain and Brazil. Most countries have no certification requirements for wine; where there is no OMAR, MPI recommends working directly with your importer.

Official assurances are only required for the European Union and Brazil. MPI issues the EU VI-1 document and, for Brazil, a certificate of origin and certificate of analysis, both with laboratory results. Other markets ask for a Free Sale Certificate, a Free Sale Advice Statement for product registration or, for South Africa, a cultivar certificate — MPI’s steps page lists them by country. New Zealand Winegrowers’ International Winemaking Practices guide, available to members, explains permitted practices for the EU, Great Britain, Brazil and other key markets.

Labels are your responsibility. Export eligibility under the Wine Act does not include compliance with the importing country’s label rules, and where those rules differ from New Zealand’s you must meet the destination market’s instead.

3. Sensory evaluation and samples

Under the Wine Notice: Export Requirements and Exemptions (in force since 22 November 2024), wine for export must be free from obvious fault, determined by a sensory evaluation of its appearance, smell and taste.

• The evaluation must be done by an experienced winemaker — at least two years’ grape winemaking experience — who may assess their own wine.
• Samples come from a homogeneous batch that is either packaged for retail sale or ready to export.
• The only adjustment allowed afterwards is SO₂, and it must not change total sulphur dioxide by more than 10 mg/kg.
• Keep 2 samples of each batch for 2 months from the date export eligibility is confirmed.
• Where an OMAR requires testing, a sample is collected the same way, and the batch must be stable — fermentation complete, including in the bottle.

4. Apply for export eligibility for each batch

Each separate batch of wine needs export eligibility, applied for in MPI Trade Certification before export, with a declaration that the wine is free from obvious fault. Keep a record of that declaration. You also make declarations for each batch to show it meets any relevant OMARs, and your verifier will check that your winemaking records are consistent with them.

Export eligibility is valid for a maximum of 2 years for packaged wine and 3 months for bulk wine (Wine Notice: Export Requirements and Exemptions, clause 2.2(3)).

5. Apply for an export eligibility certificate for each consignment

For every consignment of NZ grape wine you apply, again in MPI Trade Certification and before export, for an export eligibility certificate — in the system it appears as an Export Eligibility Statement. The same platform is used to request Free Sale Advice Statements and Free Sale Certificates. You register to use MPI Trade Certification with a RealMe account, and every user needs their own login and must be current staff. Contract winemakers and bottlers need access too, to confirm winemaking, bottling and filling-run details for their clients.

Exemptions worth knowing

• Trade samples up to 110 litres per consignment, not for retail sale and in bottles clearly marked as not for sale, are exempt from export eligibility requirements, and their exporter does not need to be registered as one.
• Up to 27 litres of NZ grape wine per consignment exported for reward or trade is exempt from the export eligibility certificate, provided the wine has current export eligibility in MPI Trade Certification. Keep a record of the exporter, consignee, volume and destination country.
• Wine for consumption on an aircraft leaving New Zealand is exempt from the export requirements.

Where a market has an OMAR, these exemptions may not apply or may carry conditions — check before you ship samples to the EU, Great Britain, the US or Brazil.

The records behind it all

MPI Trade Certification keeps a record of your export transactions and the balance of eligible litres, but MPI is clear that you still need your own records. For each lot or batch of wine you export:

• The WSMP identification number(s) it was made and bottled under.
• Documents showing it complies with its label claims for variety, vintage and region, with export eligibility requirements and with any relevant OMARs.
• Quantity, storage location and package type.
• Who you bought it from and who you sold it to — your traceability records must show your consignees.

If an export is stopped at the border, the wrong wine is loaded, or the wine no longer meets export requirements, you must tell MPI within 24 hours.

GrapeFlow keeps the winery side of this organised: the lots, volumes, additions, blends, analyses and vineyard origin of each wine, and where each bottling run went. It doesn’t connect to MPI Trade Certification and issues no export documents, so applications and certificates stay with you and MPI — but the answers to MPI’s and your verifier’s questions are already in one place.