Our Wines
Our 100 acre vineyard in Maraekakaho is broken up into sections called blocks that are individually planted with grape clones that are best suited for those particular soils and the style of wine we are looking to make.
Prestige and Winemakers Collection wines are made from small blocks in our vineyard, self defined by soil types, which produce grapes of especially unique character.
Since the vineyard was planted, we have carefully monitored each blocks performance through critical analysis but also through constantly assessing flavour, composition and complexity of wines we have made from vines in these areas of free draining soils and low natural yield potential.
By definition, these areas are selected for their ability to allow vines to grow and achieve natural balance of canopy growth and yield within a small vine. This means we can achieve a healthy balance vine with little intervention. Any work with growing shoots, canopy or bunches is carried out by hand with the overriding aim being one of balance within a small vine.
With low bunch number and small berries, intensity of flavours is given. Natural fermentation and traditional winemaking extract the best representation of the vineyard and we try to minimize all of the clutter and background noise of winemaking artefact. Simply, we try and let the vineyard speak for itself.
Eventually, we select what we believe are the individual barrels of highest quality and most characterful wines. We blend and mange them into bottle with as little interference from human hand as we can achieve.
The remainder of our vineyard is use to grow grapes that will make our Flying Sheep range of wines.