OUR VINEYARDS

The growing region of Marlborough has many lovely flavour idiosyncrasies throughout. Ant Moore gathers fruit from the widest range of vineyards possible, all up and down the valleys, and indeed on the ridge-tops. Stylistically this is very exciting, but it also allows for a tremendous consistency year to year.

We have a wholistic growing philosophy; grazing sheep in the vineyards is just one aspect which provides for low pesticide and herbicide regimes. We have a minimal sulphur approach, using age old pruning and canopy management techniques, together with modern practices to achieve.

Dillons

This is our highest altitude vineyard, high in the mountains at the top of the Waihopai valley. A north facing slope, planted with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. We are planting Chardonnay this year.

This is usually the last vineyard harvested, the elevation means very cold nights. This results in great retained acidity. It’s in an area known for less rainfall, so diseases are not an issue. That means less intervention, and more flexibility to harvest moments.

The vineyard is very close planted with high vine density: 2m by 1m spacing. As such, the vines are small, and they tend to produce small berries with great concentration.

The Sauvignon Blanc here has a combination of tropical flavours in the warmer sections of the vineyard, with more citrus and lemon lime in the cooler more exposed parts of the vineyard.

The Pinot Noir gives us great colour. We use a variety of clones, which we keep seperate and then blend according to our desired final outcomes on palate, flavour and balance.

Brookby ROAD

Our steepest and most dramatic vineyard. Planted on a hillside around a basin, it can get very warm and produces great tropical flavours in the Sauvignon Blanc.

Thanks to the clay based soil, the Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc both display great intensity and structure.

Yields here are very low, due to the low vigour steep site, and the resulting wine is very concentrated. 

Patriarch

I planted this large vineyard over two river terraces back in 2007. It’s over 70ha with plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Gruner Veltlnier.

This vineyard gives us a wide array and great combinations of flavour profiles. The top terrace has more clay and tends to be tropical, the lower terrace has greater vigour and shows more of the green spectrum typical of the Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. We generally pick Sauvignon from here at a variety of times and stages of ripeness which gives us great blending components.

CASEY’S ROAD

Our Casey’s Road vineyard is in a harsh rugged growing environment in the Awatere Valley. I bought this vineyard specifically for the unique flavour profiles it delivers. Great acidity in the whites, with amazing freshness and punchiness.