Our Island Blend is a Bordeaux style wine and is a blend of fruit from both Waiheke Island and its neighbouring Ponui Island.
The blend is predominantly Cabernet Franc with fruit coming off our Paradise vineyard on Ponui Island along with Arlo and Spot X Cabernet Franc grown on Waiheke. Merlot is sourced from the stunning Anita Bay vineyard on Waiheke which faces out to the Coromandel and Petit Verdot from Big North Vineyard above Cactus Bay.
After careful hand harvesting the fruit is delivered to the winery and then put across a sorting table before being 100% de-stemmed and delivered to open vats for fermentation.
All of our red ferments undergo fermentation with wild yeasts with pump overs being carried out twice daily. Following an extended time
on skins (average 35days in vat) the wines are gently pressed and taken straight to barrel for natural malolactic fermentation in the spring.
The wines are racked once to a blend after 18 months prior to bottling.