They bought a stunning piece of land and went about making a range of Chardonnays, Oak Aged Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir.
The first wine they made from young vines was released under the brand of Tasman Bay in 1995 with the Spencer Hill brand retained for the more complex wines to come, as the vines got older. This first Chardonnay (1994 vintage) won the Champion Chardonnay and Champion White Wine trophies and was named as the Reserve Wine of Show at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards in 1995.
Current General Manager, Matt Rutherford, started working for Spencer Hill Estate on day one, initially helping establish the vineyards. With Phil and Sheryl he planned the development of the business, including deciding what varieties would work best on their site and the style of wines they wanted to produce.
Over the years as the business evolved and grew into export markets they saw an opportunity to create a range of wines that targeted residents of Phil's home country, America. More specifically they saw an opportunity to produce kosher wines for the large Jewish community.
The move to producing kosher wines started in 2005. Having approached the world's largest kosher wine distributor, Royal Wine Corporation in New York, Phil was told they would take a kosher wine from Spencer Hill if it was good wine as well as being kosher. However they added that they doubted both of those requirements could be achieved.
The journey of learning had begun, the rules around producing any kosher product are strict and for a non-Jewish winemaker there were plenty of logistical challenges for Matt to manage.
To put these challenges in perspective it is worth considering what kosher means. KOF-K Kosher Supervision, one of the foremost kosher certification agencies in the United States says "'Kosher' is a Hebrew word that literally means 'fit' or 'proper'. When used in relation to food products, 'kosher' means that the item in question meets the dietary requirements of Jewish law.
"The principles governing what is kosher and what is not, are rooted in the Written Torah (the Bible) and the Oral Torah. These laws have been observed by Jews for over 3,000 years. Over the centuries, the Rabbis have explained, detailed and organized these Divine laws, applying them to ever-changing situations and developing technologies. The laws relating to kosher foods are intricate and detailed, and it takes years to master the subject in depth."
Matt says "the rules for making a kosher product, in our case wine, start when the intent is expressed. So if you decide the quality of a particular parcel of fruit is good enough to be turned into a kosher wine, when the fruit is delivered to the winery then the kosher system kicks in. From the first act of starting the winemaking process, kosher systems and requirements must be strictly observed."
At this point only a Sabbath observant Jew can touch the wine, handle the equipment, move a hose with wine in it or have any contact with the wine. Non-Sabbath-observant people can't touch anything. Only when juice or wine has been made as a mevushal wine (flash pasteurised) is a non-Jew allowed to handle it.
Flash Pasteurisation doesn't harm the wine and some wineries are running trials with this for non-kosher reasons – flavour enhancement, stabilization - and it can help with aroma profile enhancement.
No matter how the wine is made, the process still has to be observed by a Sabbath observant Jew.
"Tanks still need to be sealed with kosher seals so no one can touch the wine," Matt says. "We can't use many things - no gelatine or milk product for example - so we need to be very careful at the front end of winemaking to make sure we don't need to use something later in the process. There are so many things we can't use and that is a key reason we only make kosher wines with exceptional fruit.
"Wine is the most complicated kosher product made because of the religious significance of it. It is used at Passover and other religiously important occasions by the Jewish community."
All ingredients used in the winemaking process must be kosher certified (yeast for example) and many of these are not commonly available in New Zealand. Spencer Hill have to direct import the majority of their kosher supplies.
Another important part of producing kosher wine is that the process has to be overseen by Rabbis Mashgich (supervisor) of an acceptable level to the certifying agency. As there are periods in the year when no Rabbi are available in New Zealand they need to fly one in from Sydney or US. (This normally occurs several times during the winemaking process).
Winemaker Jules Randall can deal with some white wines that are Mervushal wines but he has no access to red wines.
Winemakers can't just take a sample from a barrel to check. That can only be done by an appropriate Rabbi.
Matt says, 'this goes back to being meticulous in everything we do because we simply can't access the reds to taste and check them. The barrels are sealed with tape and other seals which are signed multiple times by the Rabbi to ensure they aren't disturbed."
But the effort is paying off for Spencer Hill. Within their niche market they sell 8000 cases a year. Now they are taking their expertise and taking it to the world.
Having purchased land and established vineyards in Washington State in 2007, Phil and Sheryl planted vineyards in Hood River, Colombia Gorge in Oregon and began making American kosher wines. Since 2010, all the wines produced at Hood River have been kosher.
Being able to make wines close to their key New York marketplace has been an important move for Spencer Hill. With Rabbis close by who can supervise and certify wines as kosher they save on some travel and freight costs.
But it does come at a personal cost. Matt, Phil and Sheryl make four or five trips a year to the US to oversee the vineyards and winemaking process.
As Matt says; "the process of making kosher wine isn't for the faint hearted, it takes huge dedication over and above the work we do in making non-kosher wines.
But it is a valuable market for us and now we have developed a reputation for delivering a quality product our distributors don't have any problems selling the kosher wine that we market as Goose Bay."
