Vintage 2024: Marlborough
"I'm just kind of pinching myself that the weather is so good," says Pernod Ricard's New Zealand Group Winemaker Jamie Marfell, as he approaches what will likely be his first Easter off in 34 years.
Highfield Estate and TerraVin Wines have consolidated their holdings to become Highfield TerraVin Ltd, in what those involved describe as a synergistic move.
The winemakers of both former labels (Gordon Ritchie of TerraVin and Al Soper of Highfield) along with Pete Coldwell the General Manager of Highfield have combined their talents to establish the new company.
“It is about simple synergies,” Coldwell says. “Highfield has a winery, but not much in terms of vineyards. Whereas TerraVin has a vineyard, but no winery. Coming together offers us great opportunities in terms of future production along with sales and marketing.”
One of the oldest wineries in the Marlborough region, Highfield was established back in 1989. It quickly became renowned for its Sauvignon Blanc and Méthode Traditionnelle. In fact it was one of the first to add a French influence to its sparkling wine, by working with Michel Drappier of French house, Champagne Drappier.
TerraVin was formed in 1998 and its primary focus was on producing wines from hillside grown fruit, particularly Pinot Noir. The 30-hectare vineyard is situated in the Southern Wither Hills, and produces not only Pinot, but also Sauvignon Blanc and some Chardonnay. Winemaker Ritchie says the hillside soils provide a unique expression.
“The wines really do show where they come from.”
For the three men involved in the formation of the new company, it is a chance to take control of their own destiny as well as that of the wines they are involved with.
Ritchie and Soper say despite the coming together of the two labels, each of them will retain control of their individual wines.
“The labels will remain; we will still have both Highfield and Terravin,” Ritchie says. “We want to maintain the personality and character of those wines and to do that, we need to retain our individual approaches to winemaking.”
“Both companies have developed their own niche markets,” Soper adds, “so while we will be collaborative, we will not be attempting to look the same.”
All three men are now stakeholders in the new look company, which they say shows their commitment to the Marlborough region.
“We are three like minded blokes getting together,” Coldwell says. “We all love Marlborough, we all love the wines from Marlborough and we want to be part of Marlborough going forward.”
“It will be nice to actually have skin in the game,” Ritchie says. “And it will be nice to see the continuity of both labels, with added opportunities.”
The Highfield winery can handle 550 tonnes of fruit, and while all three men say the opportunity to expand is being considered, it won’t be happening within the immediate future.
The good news for consumers is that the iconic Highfield winery designed by Sir Michael Fowler will reopen its restaurant this coming summer. Both the TerraVin and Highfield wines will be available at the cellar door.
