Maori Point
was given its name in
reference to the group of
Maori goldminers who, in the
1860's, sluiced the east bank
of the Clutha river near
Tarras.
Our vineyard
is a 28 hectare block running
from Maori Point Rd to the
riverbank, bounded along the
south border by "The
Pines" planted by the
Dunedin pharmacist, Bill
Clifford. It is ringed by
mountains, the Pisa range to
the west, Hawea and Lindis
ranges to the north, St
Bathans and the Dunstans to
the east and south. The soils
are built up in layers of
sand, gravel and river silt
over glacial deposits of large
stones, with superimposed
windblown ridges with deep
sandy loam on one side and
large rocks along their peaks.
The detailed soil map which we
commissioned looks like a
technicolour tiger skin.
'Free-draining sterile medium'
best describes its character.
The land was
pictured in a brochure from a
Wanaka estate agent who
responded to our request to
see it by telling us it was a
dry dusty rabbit-ridden block
and if we were to visit it we
risked falling down one of the
massive rabbit holes and never
reappearing.
2bud summer autumn winter
chop
Our first
harvest of pinot noir and
pinot gris grapes was in
autumn, 2006. The Pinot Gris
was bottled in September, but
the Pinot Noir remained in
French oak barrels until it
was bottled in March 2007 for
release in November 2007. Some
of the juice from the Pinot
Noir was left with the skins
for 24h and then taken to make
Pinot Noir Rosé. This sold out
quickly, encouraging us to
increase production. In 2008
we have set aside 6 tonnes of
premium pinot noir grapes for
Rosé and will produce 500
cases.
In 2008 we harvested 21
tonnes of grapes, about half
our final capacity, which we
may reach in 2009 |
