Join us on the journey of making an Italian grape variety into New Zealand wine.
Kiwis have embraced Mediterranean food with fresh NZ ingredients for quite some time. Now, let’s try a new Mediterranean wine with a Kiwi twist. Join us on our journey to explore the potential of this new variety and experience different seasons. From Piedmont, a region in North-Western Italy between the Mediterranean sea and the European Alps, to Marlborough between the Pacific Ocean and the Southern Alps. Our Arneis speaks of its origin and place.
A team of Kiwi ingenuity and Swiss precision.
Lex is a former chef who introduced Mediterranean food to Australian and New Zealand customers. In his second career he studied Viticulture & Oenology at Lincoln University. Lex is our viticulturist. He also runs the consulting business The Viticulture Practice. Franzi gained experience in marketing and became passionate about organics in Switzerland. She made New Zealand her home in 2000 and also studied Viticulture & Oenology. Franzi is our winemaker and marketing & sales manager.
Arneis keeps us on our toes.
Like almost every man and his dog in Marlborough we are growing Sauvignon blanc grapes, currently for Seresin‘s Momo label. We thought just growing grapes was too easy and were looking for a new challenge. We like Italy and we like Italian food. While travelling in Europe experiencing the different wine styles, we were impressed by the Arneis wines in Piedmont. In 2008 we planted a small block of the variety in our boutique vineyard.
We care about our planet.
Growing the grapes organically makes sense, feels good and results in a better wine. Our vineyard has been fully certified organic by BioGro from harvest 2014 and the wines from vintage 2016. Third party organic certification gives you certainty that we stick to the rules and don’t take any short cuts.
It is a journey.
We are constantly looking for improvements. We have installed a photovoltaic system on the roof of our house. Now, the sun provides us with free power to irrigate our vineyard and for all the mod cons in our home.
