Made in the vineyard is almost a cliché to say, but clearly it is. Hans has a diploma in viticulture (and worked since childhood in the vineyard) beside a master’s in Oenology (winemaking) but spends most of his time in the vineyard to produce the highest quality grapes. “It truly is what I believe makes great wine. It’s not in the winemaking, it’s in the vineyard”
The most important ‘ingredients’ to the ‘making’ of great wines are:
- Start with a distinctive site for the vineyard.
- Employ conscientious viticulture to realize the complete potential of that site.
- Low yields for healthy, complex and flavourful grapes, hand-pick and select, then keep the winemaking simple. Let the wines speak for the vineyard.
- Great grapes - cannot make fine wine without them.
- Letting nature make the wine (without additives or processing aids), rather than trying to manipulate it into shape.
- making great wine in small lots is easier than in large ones, since you can be close to the process.
What great wineries have in common is a superior microclimate and terroir, the philosophy for higher density planting and lower yields for complex, powerful and long-lived wines. Top producers are using only their own grapes to have total control over the quality of the fruit and practice an artisanal approach to wine growing. They show exceptional vinification skills and are mindful of a natural and non-interventionist winemaking for wines of integrity.
Our new releases prove just that. The single estate vineyard, barrel fermented Chardonnay, Viognier and Mistral stay for a long 18 month on their fine lees, they truly are reserve wines. Powerful, but elegant wines with longevity. Mistral 2017 was given more maturation time in the bottle and is starting to sing. The blockbuster of our white wines comes with a supreme depth and flavour profile.
Pinot Gris 2018, not your regular Pinot Gris… Fruit and freshness with a silky texture, this is the epitome of a high-quality wine.
Montepulciano 2016, the wine which makes the Italian cry in their spaghetti 😉, there is not much of it is all what I say.
Saperavi 2018, same, one barrel only from this stunning, highly complex but incredible charming wine. Strictly limited.
Spirit of Marlborough 2015, our flagship wine, nurtured for 5 years in the cellar but with the potential to age for years and years to come...
To see our range of new releases please click here!
Anywhere else our wines would be called ‘reserve wines’ a term used in the cellar when winemakers would hold back or ‘reserve’ some of their wine from a particularly good vintage. Today, the implication of a reserve wine is that it is a higher quality wine that has been aged longer. However, in many cases ‘reserve’ is used as part of a wine’s name, and thus become more than a descriptor - it becomes part of a brand, like in in America, Australia, New Zealand and even France among many other countries. We hope that most wineries who use the term, really do put their best product into their reserve wines. Unfortunately, there are a few producers who take advantage of this concept as a great and sly way to market their wine at a higher price. As much as we would truly qualify for such an enhancement with our handcrafted wines, you will never find a sticker or reserve statement on any of our labels with our wines particularly fair priced considering their quality and maturation time. What you find on our label is rare, the name of the one individual who actually grows and makes it, the rest is in the bottle… Enjoy!