The terroir of our Mt Beautiful vineyard shares many of the best qualities of New Zealand’s most admired winegrowing regions.
Landforms
Our vineyard is sheltered in the Cheviot Spotswood Basin, surrounded by hills, the Kaikoura Mountains to the north and Mt Beautiful in the local coastal range to the east. The vines are planted on an interlaced series of terraced tablelands, well positioned to catch optimum sun. The terraces are dissected by a major gully and waterway. This provides good air drainage, protecting the vineyard from frost.
Soil
The terraces consist of a mudstone foundation covered by alluvial gravels, which provides good drainage and also serves as a handy source of gravel to maintain our vineyard roads. The top layer, where our vine roots will thrive, has silt loam Phoebe Soils for a depth of about 2m. The soils are very uniform, which means we get an even growth pattern across the vineyard. This, in turn, enables us to harvest fruit that are all at the same, optimum level of ripeness.
Rainfall
The vineyard receives 700 – 800mm of rain per year. Most of this falls in winter, with only minimal rain during the growing season. Until the young vines have established mature root systems, we use water from three irrigation wells to provide the water supply in summer. After three or four years, we expect to use irrigation only in very dry seasons.
Temperature
The vineyard enjoys a cool, temperate climate with hot, dry summers characterised by north-westerly winds in October and November. Though it is a generally cool region, the temperature can peak at 38º Celsius in summer. The Growing Degree Days average at 1125, giving our grapes ample opportunity to grow to full ripeness.
