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An ABC Radio report on Wellington’s Pinot Noir festival credits the grape’s – and NZ wine in general’s – explosion in popularity in the US to the success of 2004 indie film, Sideways. “We had $500 million [in overall wine sales to the US] last year,” says interviewee Phil Goff, Minister for Trade. “This year it may be $700 million in exports and we’ll probably pass the $1 billion mark in exports by 2010, just three years away.” The Pinot Noir festival is an international symposium held annually in Wellington which attracts an array of industry insiders and wine aficionados from all over the world.