The Landing: Destination wine tourism with soul
At The Landing in Northland, destination wine tourism is integrated into a carefully balanced whole.
The Good: Vintage 2025 was one of the best in Northland for many years, with settled weather conditions throughout the growing season. With careful vineyard management, some excellent fruit was brought into the region’s wineries, and we’re all looking forward to getting these in the bottle and into people’s hands. Tourism numbers were back up, meaning our cellar doors and hospitality partners have enjoyed plenty of custom throughout the year.
The Bad: Firstly, powdery mildew was an issue on many of the vineyards in the North last summer, and this affected crop levels for some of our growers. Secondly, while we got through harvest before the rains arrived in April, we’ve had a very wet and relatively warm winter, and some of the effects of that are being seen in the vineyards now as vines gear up for their next vintage.
The Awesome: The beating heart of Northland winemaking, Marsden Estate, has a new ownership group after Rod and Cindy MacIvor sold the business. Marsden makes the wines for many local wineries and there were fears that, if whoever purchased the property decided against winemaking on the site, it would massively affect our winemaking community here in the North. The new owners, however, are fully committed to continuing and are in the process of expanding and building a new winery onsite. A fantastic outcome for all.
