Vineyard Sites - Cornerstone Vineyard lies at the heart of the renowned Gimblett Gravels viticultural region, strategically positioned at the junction of Gimblett Road and State Highway 50 in Hawke’s Bay. This area is celebrated as New Zealand’s premier Bordeaux red grape-growing region, and it’s easy to see why. The vineyard’s unique terroir, composed of riverbed stones and gravels, challenges the vines, leading them to produce a limited yield of small, intensely coloured, and flavourful berries. The resulting grapes give rise to wines with rich, mouth-filling tannins and a depth of character that speaks to the harsh yet rewarding growing conditions. 

Vinification - The grapes were carefully handpicked, then crushed and fermented in small 3-tonne open fermenters. Each batch was hand-plunged and allowed varying periods of post-ferment skin contact to enhance complexity and structure. After pressing off, the wine underwent malolactic fermentation and was aged in a mix of French (90%) and American (10%) oak barriques, adding subtle layers of flavour and depth. 

Tasting Notes - Enticing aromas of freshly sanded wood, new leather, anise, and spice draw you in. On the palate, sweet dark red fruits, plums, and berry pie flavours shine through. Grippy, robust, dry tannins balance a smooth, sweet, slightly charry oak profile. This wine is drinking well now but will develop even more complexity with ageing.

The Natural State wines are made by second generation Churton Estate winemakers, Ben and Jack Weaver, sons of the winery's founders, Sam and Mandy. This Field Blend combines Petit Manseng (extremely rare in New Zealand), Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. All grapes were harvested on the same day and co-fermented then bottled, unfined, unfiltered with zero sulphur additions. 

Churton founder and winemaker Sam Weaver cut his teeth on the classic wines of the world while working in fine wine retail in the United Kingdom. His background is in microbiology and he was raised on a farm, so when he and his wife Mandy founded Churton Estate, it combined all of his passions. The couple and their adult sons, have created one of this country's most high quality small wineries, which lives up to the dream of creating 100% estate grown grapes, 100% certified organic production and 100% bottled on site, nearly all of the wines without fining or filtration. All grapes are hand picked and natural yeasts ferment the majority of Churton wines. These incremental qualitative decisions impact at every step of their winemaking provides exceptional quality grapes which in turn express themselves in outstanding wines.

The Natural State wines are the brainchild of second generation family winemakers, Ben and Jack Weaver.

Top drinking full bodied, dry, crisp and peachy Marlborough Chardonnay made from grapes grown on a blend of vineyards on the Wairau Valley and the Southern Valleys in Marlborough. Flavours of white peach, nectarines and ripe grapefruit intermingle in this complex white from New Zealand's biggest wine region.

The grapes were fermented in a combination of new and old oak barriques and given 10 months ageing in oak prior to bottling. 

From Skypunch vineyard, which lies on the slope next to Home vineyard on Black’s Ave.  We’re leasing and managing  Julianne and Conor’s vineyard here and we’re excited.  In conversion to organic with BioGro 5202.

Aromas of preserved lemon citrus, flint, almond, cardamon, and ginger. The palette is structured and vibrant with unique saline tension. Flavours of new season pear and apricot, white peach and vanilla bean. Un-fined, unfiltered.

From the esteemed biodynamic Wrekin Vineyard nestled in Marlborough's Clay Soil Southern Valley's.

Undergoing 100% Whole bunch carbonic fermentation this wine is full of deep red and dark berry fruit character, dry yet fruit forward with soft tannins.

Mulberries, red currants, crème de cassis and old-fashioned raspberry notes present a French nouveau style wine – dangerously thirst quenching when lightly chilled and smoothly moorish at room temperature. A wine to be enjoyed now.

Sliced apples, pears, lemon rind and honeysuckle come through the nose and palate. Medium to full bodied with a creamy and crunchy finish. Intense acidity and minerality, like a solid Chablis.

Lush, soft and deeply aromatic aromas of rose petals, lychees and tropical fruit all vie for attention in each glass of this off dry Gew?rztraminer from Nelson - long home to many of the country's best aromatic white wines. 

Vinification

All fruit is estate grown organically, with the majority of the clone being Mendoza. All our Chardonnay is hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed,
but they are lightly crushed first, this allows the juice to be extracted at very low pressures. Each parcel of fruit is kept separate and vinified and aged
individually. The juice is allowed to oxidise pre-ferment which makes the final wine more vibrant, long-lived and intensely flavoured as finished wine.
All parcels take most of the lees from pressing to barrel for wild fermentation and are aged in French oak with 25% being new. To keep the structure of
this wine, we allowed only 50% of the barrels to go through spontaneous malolactic fermentation, with no battonage. The total time in barrel is about
10 months before being combined into one blend in mid-February, The wine stays in stainless steel tank for 6 months on lees which allows for the acid
to become precisely defined and adds texture - then finished with no fining and only gentle filtration.

Wine
Green gold with silver flecks.
Aromas of grapefruit, orange zest, grilled white stonefruits, chared applewood with underlying peach blossom and oystershell.
Fresh citrus dominates with crunchy nectarine, crystalized pineapple, sweet baking spice and a saline minerality in support. A fine acid structure is
coated with a silky texture to give a long complex finish.

Our Herringbone Syrah has risen quickly through the ranks to be recognised as a one of Hawke’s Bay’s finest.  Our 2024 Syrah took out the top spot at the Hawke’s Bay wine awards winning the Champion Syrah trophy.  The 2025 Syrah has big boots to fill but we’re happy to share that this wine is more than up to the job.

Our 2024 Syrah sold out in record time so get your hands on the 2025 vintage now as we can’t guarantee how long this one will last.

If you are looking for a plush, luscious wine that is silky smooth on the palate then this is the one for you.   

Vineyard
10-year-old vines, greywacke soil, cane pruned.

Winemaking
Machine picked, pressed off skins, cold settled, fermented cool for 15 days.

Aroma
Passionfruit, gooseberry, green capsicum.

Palate
Passionfruit, lemon, grapefruit, zingy acid.

Tapi Organic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is a small-batch, sustainably certified organic white wine from Marlborough, New Zealand, crafted by Altschwager + Kenneally. It features vibrant aromas of passionfruit, lime, and white peach, balanced by crisp textural acidity and a 13% alcohol volume

2024 vintage

95 POINTS - OUTSTANDING
”An enticing, pure fruited bouquet with a complexity from mineral and sea spray ideas, cape gooseberry, peach and red apple flesh then citrus. As the wine opens out warming in the glass the aromas and flavours of grapefruit and white spice, lemon verbena and fresh sage with a touch of Thais basil. Plenty of stony mineral and a light sea spray complexity along with a backbone of acidity and lengthy fruit-led finish. Taut and ripe, lengthy and well made with best drinking from day of purchase through 2031.” APR 26

In Marlborough, our season starts with Pinot noir, and we have always been longing for a late season red grape variety to complement our range. Jeff and Vanessa Hammond’s Beacon Hill sits adjacent to their Comelybank vineyard, our foundation block for Pinot noir. It is an early site, which lends itself well to a late-ripening variety like Syrah. I felt that a site in the Southern Valleys was more likely to be successful than in one of the later ripening sites in Marlborough. There is an ancient riverbank which shelters part of the vineyard from cool winds, and a block of Syrah was planted to take advantage of this warmer mesoclimate.

This is a new grape variety for us, though I see great potential for Marlborough Syrah. We are big fans of Côte-Rôtie, of northern Rhône Syrah. We wanted to have a crack at doing it ourselves. I think Syrah is a great cool climate grape variety. The Syrah wines from Marlborough have a finer tannin structure, more peppery notes and brambly fruit than the bigger examples that are produced in some warmer regions. This wine is beautifully perfumed and floral with ripe berry fruit flavours, best complemented with the right amount of new oak to deliver spice but not obscure our Marlborough fruit vibrancy.

The vineyard is cropped moderately and well-manicured. Fruit is well-exposed, and the wines deliver excellent colour, even when using the same gentle extraction programme we would use for Pinot noir. In the winery, I treat it just like Pinot because I want it to be bright and aromatic and not over extracted. I use a five day cold soak, daily manual punch-downs and pressing off at dryness. The wine went to a mixture of barrique and hogshead with 20% new oak for 10 months’ barrel maturation.

2024 vintage

96 POINTS
”Striking hues of purple and dark red with a ruby and pink rim lead to a bouquet of purity and ripeness, perfumed scents of violets and ripe red berries with blackcurrant and dark raspberry flesh then a layer of quietly spoken barrel spice and earthy qualities of silty light clay ideas. A dry, taut and poised wine touches the palate first, releasing slowly flavours of fleshy salivating red berry fruits, spice and blackcurrant to reflect and mirror the bouquet. Tannins deliver a firm youthful tension enhanced by the backbone of acidity and saline ideas on the finish. A flick of violet completes the tasting. A delicious wine with best drinking from late 2027 through 2035+.” APR 22
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Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier

As if Lake Wanaka isn't enough of an allure to drink this beautiful bubbly, made from grapes grown in the vicinity, the flavours of this crisp lemony sparkling wine are outstanding. 

Winemakers Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen describe the flavours in this sparkling wine as "Lemon blossom, brioche and biscuit with hints of almond nuttiness."
They make the base wine from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, blending the current season wine with a portion of the previous vintage’s bubbly base, matured for an extra 12 months in oak. They add 15% of reserve wine from back vintages, dating back to 2004 to produce complex assemblage, pure and persistent with hints of nuttiness and biscuit. After tirage and secondary fermentation in bottle, the wine is aged on yeast lees for a further 12 to 18 months prior to riddling and disgorging.