There are a lot of similarities between growing premium fruit and premium grapes. The vineyards have been established on steep north facing slopes where the terrain is too tough for summerfruit but absolutely ideal for grapes. Soils are schist based and free draining. A variety of different clones have been picked to suit the sites.

The grapes are grown on a Vertical Shoot Postioned (VSP) trellis system and generally spur pruned. Tucking, trimming and leaf plucking are all performed by hand. Harvesting has and will always be conducted by hand to obtain premium quality. The various clones ripen at different times and special attention is given to ensuring grapes are only picked once optimum ripeness, flavour and character have been reached.

We too appreciate the romance of having a bottle of wine with a cork closure, but for quality reasons we have decided to use screw caps. The screw cap benefits the end consumer as too often wines can become tainted when sealed with improperly treated cork closures. A common taint is TCA (2-4-6 trichloroanisole) which creates a musty mouldy off odour in the wine. To ensure no problems and a premium product every time we believe screw caps are best.

For more information about the advantages of screw caps, visit the New Zealand Screw Cap Wine Seal Initiative.