Te Whare Ra is a biodynamically farmed, certified organic vineyard in the Marlborough region on the South Island of New Zealand. e Whare Ra means ‘house in the sun’. This is the oldest small winery in Marlborough having been established in 1979 by Allen and Joyce Hogan. Allen was an Air Traffic Controller and Joyce had worked at Montana. They sold the estate in 1997 to Christine Smith and her husband (Roger) but he died 18 months after they bought it. Christine had no experience of wine and she decided to sell. Jason and Anna were looking for a vineyard in Eden Valley in Australia, but when Jason’s parents heard Te Whare Ra was for sale they said that their son would buy it. The attraction was the vineyard contained the oldest vines in Marlborough–Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay planted from 1979). Having mainly aromatic grapes rather than the more commercially attractive Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir had put off other potential buyers. Unusually, all of the vines were grafted onto phylloxera-tolerant rootstocks (Cabernet and Muller Thurgau vines planted by the Hogans had succumbed to viruses). In mid-2003 the Flowerdays bought the winery. In Oct 2003 Jason and Anna moved here from Australia. 2004 was their first vintage – they made only a Pinot noir here and made the whites at a winery in town, giving themselves space so they could get the winery fixed up.

Owners: Jason Flowerday, Anna Flowerday. Jason Flowerday is a Marlburian. His family have been involved in the industry here since the early 1980s. Anna Flowerday is Australian (b.1974 in McLaren Vale), from a 5th generation grape growing family in McLaren Vale.  Anna was good at science at school and went to Adelaide University to do a BSc, but half way through she switched to studying wine at Roseworthy, graduating in 1998. She had worked weekends with Hardys. Steve Pannel was winemaker at Tintara (Hardy’s) in McLaren Vale and he mentored Anna, along with Kerri Thompson. At the end of 1998 she was hired by Tintara as assistant winemaker. Did 18 months. Then offered her promotion at Leasingham (Hardy’s) in Clare Valley working with Kerri Thomson. She met Jason during the 1999 vintage in McLaren and soon afterwards they went to Clare [Anna did the 1999 vintage in Oregon at Rex Hill]. She proposed to him over the ‘phone. Jason found a plot of Shiraz and Riesling in Watervale and they bought it (25 acres of land, 20 acres of vines including Riesling, Tempranillo and Merlot, all newly planted). They planted 5 old Shiraz clones (Tahbilk R6, 1125, 1127 and others from hte South Australian Vine Improv Association). They sold this to Kerri Thompson who was a best mate so no need for lawyers. [Kerri launched KT and the Falcon with her then husband; split; post-divorce she sold the vineyard and the house; she is now with Tim White, a winewriter; she now owns Wines by KT].

 Vineyards: 10.1-ha. 1979 Old vines came from Lincoln. The 1979 Gewurztraminer is a Lincoln selection clone on (3309, SO4, 5C and 1202). The 1979 old Riesling is Geisenheim 198-19 on 3309C rootstock. The 1979 Chardonnay is Mendoza on 3309C rootstock. Pinot Gris (1.39-ha; Larkham on 5C planted 2004). Pinot Noir (Clones 113, 114, 155, 667, 777 – all Burgundy) plus UCD 5 ‘Pommard’ and Abel ‘Ata Rangi’). Syrah planted in 2006 with Grippat A and B selection [not a true clone] on 3309C rootstock plus ENTAV’s Rhône clones 470 and 174.

Viticulture: All 3 x 1.8 = 1,800 vines/ha. 100% double guyot. Shoot thinned (ie double buds are removed) after the risk of spring frost has passed. Then laterals are removed, but there is no systematic leaf stripping. ‘Removing the laterals makes it easier to prune in winter and allows more lignification of the shoots,’ Anna told me. Yields of 5.5 ton ha. 

Pinot Gris wines: Jason told me (at the winery 14th July 2015) ‘I want ripe texture and mouthfeel. Pinot Gris has exploded in popularity in NZ recently. I do not want an overblown wine. Pinot Gris can be a bland grape and can throw a big crop, but you can mask that dilution by leaving the finished wine with high residual sugar. Pinot Gris requires a lot of work in the vineyard if you are to get it to taste of something. Why do a lot of work for PN and not PG? We famr ours like Pinot Noir. So we do three thinnings to control vigour. We do a shoot thinning early in the growing season. Then we remove lateral shoots. Finally we remove the shoulders on the bunches. We get more air and light penetration which makes for healthier bunches. And the bunches get dappled light. It costs 1,000 dollars/ha. But this pays off because we do not have to do an extra pass to remove second set bunches on those lateral shoots. We get less disease pressure. We get more air and light. We reduce pruning costs. We have one less trim and one less leaf pluck to do. At picking the phenolics are ripe, meaning we get seed and skin ripeness so we can do skin contact and forget about Brix and residua sugar levels. With ripe skins you get the full Pinot Gris flavour spectrum. If the grapes are not ripe you get sweet and sour flavours.”

Te Whare Ra Marlborough Pinot Gris, Renwick: 2010 620 cases. NZ$28 cellar door in April 2011. From 1.4-ha (Larkham on 5C planted 2004).

Pinot Gris, Single Vineyard 5182 [their BioGro registration number]: 2014 Really good. Skin contact. 70% in steel and 30% in old barriqus, lees stirred in barrel, no malolactic fermentation. Tank portion some diff dimension, use tall skinny tanks for Riesling and short fat tanks to get more lees contact but no lees stirring. Planted 2004. Good varietal character, nice core of slightly honey and musky fruit, pineapple at the winery 14th July 2015.

Contact

Te Whare Ra Wines Ltd

56 Anglesea Street, Renwick 7243, Marlborough

Tel+64 (0)3.5728581 | Website www.twrwines.co.nz