(TheAustralian) - WHEN the first winemakers harvested grapes in New Zealand’s Marlborough in the 1970s, they joined an army of New World vintners taking on established producers like France and Spain.

Now, New Zealand's winemakers are resorting to an Old World tactic to fend off a challenge from newer rivals - regional trademarks.

As booming wine consumption in countries like China prompts homegrown entrepreneurs to set up vineyards, New Zealand's growers fear a rise in knockoffs pretending to be premium wines exported from regions like Marlborough and Central Otago.

They're lobbying for the same legal protection for their brands that French winemakers successfully won for Champagne two decades earlier.

"The New Zealand wine industry has raised concern with me about the possible growth of counterfeits in our export markets," Craig Foss, minister responsible for the sector, said in an interview. One option being discussed is legislation preventing winemakers in other countries using the names of local brands.

It's more than reputation at stake.

The value of New Zealand's wine exports have risen 33 per cent to $NZ1.2 billion ($1.05 billion) since 2008, with shipments to China alone jumping tenfold to 2.2 million litres. That is offsetting flatter growth in traditional markets such as Australia, the US and the UK, which remain the biggest buyers of New Zealand wine.

"As we have a bigger presence in international markets we have something we need to protect more," said John Barker, a trade official at New Zealand Wine, an industry lobby group. "Particularly as we go into markets recognised as having issues with intellectual property protection like Russia, China."