Some seasons feel like a negotiation, 2024 felt like a handshake, delivering everything Bordeaux-inspired reds aspire to: balance, concentration and finesse. From budburst to harvest, Waiheke Island enjoyed a near-textbook run of warm days, cool nights and just enough stress to keep the vines honest. Yields were naturally low, berries small and intensely flavoured - producing some of our finest wines to date.

Fruit was hand-harvested from our dry-grown vineyards in steep, sheltered valleys, protected from the Pacific’s cooling influence. Each parcel was fermented separately with native yeasts in open-top fermenters over a 30-day vat period, allowing site character to shine. Following fermentation, the wines were matured individually in 500-litre French oak puncheons, undergoing natural malolactic fermentation and resting on gross lees for 18 months to build texture and depth. After extensive tasting and blending trials, the final blend was returned to oak for a further six months to harmonise structure and complexity before bottling.