Vineyards, viticulture and the winery
Matahiwi Estate produces its wine according to the criteria of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ).
Inter-row plantings promote healthy soils and bio-diversity in the vineyard. The flowering buckwheat and phacelia attract natural predators for some vineyard pests, while clovers, oats, chicory and vetch provide nitrogen and other nutrients to vines when they are mown or cultivated into the ground.
The winery continually tests different viticulture and winemaking methods, including organic regimes on certain Pinot Noir blocks. To a large extent homegrown mulches and products made from seaweeds and humic acids replace hard fertilisers. Sheep wander among the vines in winter.
Grapes are predominantly grown in the Wairarapa with small volumes of Chardonnay and Merlot sourced from selected vineyard sites in Hawke's Bay. The Wairarapa vineyards lie on the north-west outskirts of Masterton, with Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc the two main varieties. Pinot Gris is due for release from 2010.
Jane Cooper and Alastair Scott want to make wines to reflect a purity of fruit and a sense of place. To this end they have fostered intensive hands-on practices, in line with those used by premium international wine producers.
Meticulous attention to detail in the vineyard to determine optimum picking times results in wines with the Matahiwi hallmarks of balanced flavours, mouthfilling texture and a lingering finish.
Pinot Noir
Cropping rates are low and the grapes well exposed in an effort to produce consistently good-quality fruit from this most fickle of grape varieties. A mix of clones and rootstock allows greater flexibility in the final blend, resulting in a Pinot Noir of depth and complexity.
Sauvignon Blanc
The Wairarapa generally produces small crops of intensely flavoured fruit. Care is taken to control the vigour of the irrepressible Sauvignon Blanc vines to avoid overly herbaceous or unripe wines.
Says Jane:"We also work hard to introduce a range of flavours into the grapes as they ripen, for example, by leaf-plucking just the morning side of the canopy. We pick Sauvignon Blanc over differing ripeness periods to capture flavour profiles we want in the final wine."
Soils
The vineyard soils are typical of the band of free-draining, fine alluvial loams running through the Opaki/Gladstone areas and south to Martinborough, coating the ancient riverbeds of the Waingawa and Ruamahanga Rivers.
Climate
A relatively long and dry growing season characterises the region, with summer days typically reaching 28-32 C. The diurnal difference increased markedly in late summer and early autumn, resulting in relatively cool temperatures in the last month of ripening - ideal for premium Pinot Noir production.
Hawke's Bay
Matahiwi sources its Chardonnay fruit from a single established block in the heart of Hawke's Bay on the famed Ngatarawa Road, while the Merlot is grown on a single vineyard on Maraekakaho Road.
Both accredited sustainable vineyards use canopy management regimes similar to those at the Wairarapa sites.
The Winery
The state-of-the-art Matahiwi Estate winery was designed by award-winning Wellington architects Bevin + Slessor, in response to the demands of site, climate conditions and the needs of a specialist Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc producer.
