Uniquely boutique
It is 26 years since Jackson Estate launched their first Marlborough wine onto the market, and despite continued success the company has never had its own winery or cellar door.
Yet in all that time, the company has never had its own winery, or a cellar door where consumers could visit. That all changed in late April when the company cut the ribbon to open their bespoke winery and cellar door to the public.
Not that there is anything that yells winery at you when you drive through the nearly 30-year-old vines, to reach the building. In fact, you could be fooled into thinking someone has played a joke on you. Especially with the 1850 replica bush hut that greets you at the end of the driveway. With its aged chimney made from a montage of battered and weathered iron soaring above the shingled roof, the batten wooden walls, doors and windows that appear as though they have been taken from a ramshackle farm shed, there is nothing modern about the cellar door. Folding into the red iron building that houses the winery and tanks, this is something special. Even the decking surrounding the cellar door has been built to look as though old piles are sinking into the ground. There are undulations that add to the authenticity of the building. And that was the plan all along according to Jackson Estate Director Jeff Hart.
“We spent two years planning this building,” he says. “We wanted to recreate the pioneering spirit of the Jackson family who first came to this land in the 1850s.”
He describes the architecture as “collision” which melds the old and the new together seamlessly.
A portable timber mill was on site throughout construction, allowing builders to destress the timber to make it look more aged. The ancient looking doors and windows may look decades old, yet they are in fact brand spanking new. All the posts holding the verandah aloft are also aged with modern techniques.
Beams and timber struts from the former Greymouth Railway Bridge have been utilised within the outside structure and have also been transformed into outdoor furniture.
With the assistance of Brain Massey who was the Art Director for The Hobbit and greens manager for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the landscaping is uniquely New Zealand. Mounds, of luscious grass envelope the building, providing serene seating for visitors.
As for the winery itself, this is where the boutique nature of Jackson Estate comes to the fore. The 250-tonne facility will only be used to produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. All the company’s Sauvignon Blanc will be made off site at contract facilities.
“Winemakers have more artistic license with Pinot and Chardonnay,” Hart says, “and this winery gives that to them. It means we can concentrate fully on these varieties.
“For a long time, we have been excited about the future of Marlborough Pinot, and this will help us take it out to the world.”
The majority of tanks are seven or 12 tonne, with the largest blending tanks being 20,000 litres. Four temperature control barrel rooms have been included, and put to good use already.
“All our tanks were full by early April, half with Jackson Estate fruit and the other half, contracted.”
In total Jackson Estate has 70 hectares of grapes, 40 in the Rapaura area and 30 in the Waihopai. All the latter is Pinot Noir.
A handful of older Sauvignon Blanc vines had to be removed to create the entrance into the new cellar door, but Hart says they have made sure they weren’t wasted.
“We actually replanted them and they have taken really well.”
Again, a case of old and new working together.
