Winery and Vineyards
WINERY
After leasing premises at the industrial McNulty Road site for 10 years, 2016 was the first vintage we completed at our new winery in Ripponvale Road in Cromwell.
The new semi-rural site comes with stunning-views of the rugged Central Otago landscape and a hectare of land to allow further expansion in the future.
Winemaker Malcolm Francis designed the operation of the new winery to best reflect his own philosophies: to treat the fruit (and wine) as gently as possible, with minimum interference and maximum ease of use.
VINEYARDS
Central Otago’s wine industry symbolises success and its continental climate rivals Europe’s best. The region has a long viticultural tradition, and French immigrant Jean Desire Feraud, who pioneered grape-growing and wine production over 100 years ago, left a strong legacy.
Today more than 1,000 hectares of grapes flourish in unique growing conditions. The skills of talented winemakers produce quality boutique wines to compete with the country’s finest.
The region has a semi-continental climate and experiences greater daily and seasonal extremes of temperature unknown elsewhere in New Zealand. The area’s unique soil types have a marked influence on vine growth, the flavours of the grapes and the resulting wine.
Our vineyards are bounded on the west by mountains on whose seaward slopes are rain forests, which receive 5000mm of rain a year. To the east is a barren, moon-Iike landscape that receives less than 25mm of rain a year. Situated between these extremes are our vineyards that produce not only Pinot Noir of stunning quality but also medal winning Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Rosé and Fumé Blanc.
Handpicked grapes from our Parkburn Vineyard in Lowburn and our Gibbston Valley Back Road Vineyard reflect our unique terroir. The resulting wines fully express the complex subtleties available only in New Zealand’s one true continental climate.