A 4000-case shipment of New Zealand Pinot Noir has been refused by a German company which claims the wine contains too much copper.

According to the NZ Herald, the copper levels in the Te Kairanga Pinot Noir were 3.6 parts per million (ppm) in a wine that was bottled and labelled specifically for the German customer. The European Union standard for copper residues is 1ppm.

It is possible other exported wines do not comply with residue levels, as copper is not routinely checked for export certification in New Zealand. Nor is copper checked in wine for sale in the NZ market.

Te Kairanga acting CEO Ian Frame told the newspaper the wine did not meet the customer's strict requirements, but he was unable to provide details.

He was not concerned about the rejection. "The product is not branded Te Kairanga, and in all the other countries we deal with this is not a problem."

New Zealand Wine chief executive Philip Gregan said he was not worried that the incident would blemish New Zealand wine's reputation internationally. Germany was known as a "stickler for technical points" in the wine world. "They are just very pedantic about rules and regulations," he added. "If there's an issue that comes out of a customer in Germany, it never surprises me."

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