Waipara West - New Zealand - Organically Certified 2021

We purchased Waipara West farm in 1989 knowing that, although it was an unsuccessful rabbit infested, sheep farm, it had a combination of factors suitable for the production of quality grapes. Being further inland and higher than existing Waipara vineyards, it was hotter and less frost-prone due to natural air movement caused by the river and the sloping terraces. Only then did we realise that the farm had been previously owned by our family some hundred years before.

Waipara West, a geographically correct name but actually called after our weather station, is situated on sunny stony north-facing terraces along the Waipara River some seven miles inland from the Pacific Ocean and nestling in the foothills of the Southern Alps.

THE REGION

Waipara, a recognised viticultural region in North Canterbury, is situated 60km north of Christchurch in the South Island. Vines were first planted in the district in 1981, although commercial winemaking really only started in 1990. Waipara has many natural advantages for grape production with its long, dry warm summers, sheltered from cold easterly winds by a range of coastal hills but exposed to hot nor’west winds which help control disease. Drought risk is mitigated by irrigation and the long, dry autumns coupled to good diurnal variance, help provide phenolic ripeness and complexity.