New Zealand wine exports have cracked the billion dollar mark with $1.01 billion worth of wine sold in the year to the end of July on the back of a bumper wine harvest.

The industry’s long-term goal of reaching that billion dollar barrier has been achieved a year ahead of schedule.

It fell just short of the mark in its 2009 financial year (Aug-July) with $992 million in sales, but it has only taken another month to reach the billion dollar figure, with the industry initially predicting it wouldn’t sell that much wine until some time in 2010.

The $1 billion figure equates to the equivalent of five bottles being sold every second.

The amount of wine produced out of 2009’s record harvest is partly responsible for the increased sales, with wineries forced to ramp up their sales efforts in the face of oversupply.

Sales have grown by $200 million in the past year, thanks to that harvest creating enough wine to meet demand.

But NZ Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said the long-term growth in exports was based on an “industry-wide commitment to world class quality” in vineyards, wineries and marketing and sales efforts.

Wine exports have grown at a compound rate of 23.8% each year for the past 20 years - four times the growth rate for all goods exports – according to a report from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

Another bumper harvest this year, which equalled last year’s record, means there is still plenty of scope for further big exports over the next year and Mr Gregan said there were still new markets to be found, as well as new opportunities in existing markets.

“New Zealand wine still has enormous opportunity globally with strong demand from key markets, notably Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as increasingly from Asian and continental European markets.”

Mr Gregan said NZ Winegrowers was now predicting that annual growth would continue at about 20% over the next few years,