Our wine making philosophy
Winemaking
Our basic philosophy is to allow our wines to express the environment that the grapes are grown in. The LIME ROCK vineyard site, with its limestone, altitude, north facing slopes and variations in terrain is unique. We have chosen grape varieties that suit our place or turangawaewae.
It is the Vit-Ecologist’s challenge to produce the best flavours and then the Winemaker’s challenge to capture those flavours in the wines. So we pick on sweetness, balance, flavour, colour, condition of the grapes and vines and, of course, we check the weather.
We just observe the basic good principles of winemaking. We keep the flavours in the juice and then ferment with carefully controlled conditions. Then we maintain these flavours in the wine and enhance them; in the case of Pinot Noir we use the very best of French oak barriques. Nothing too complicated. This lets you know what flavours the Central Hawke’s Bay limestone land can produce.
