“Waitiri Creek’s unique landholding gives us the ability to harvest grape varietals perfectly selected for the area’s specific growing conditions. We love this aspect of our work – it is like manicuring the vines for the best result. With the benefit of great grape growing days and despite climatic extremes, our Gibbston-true philosophy has always been to focus on bringing the best grapes to  the vintners table, no matter what the weather Gods throw at us.”

-Alistair Ward

Our vineyard blocks are planted with grape varieties /cultivars uniquely matched to the Gibbston micro climate. The advanced skill of matching grape cultivar to land and climate is known as ‘terroir mapping’ and is a more recent innovation for New Zealand’s wine industry – and something we’re excited to be a part of.

This practice of utilising the interplay between soils and climate has really paved the way for others to follow. Innovation is important to us and our family is committed to best practice. We’ve also phased out the ‘bare earth’ policy of vineyard floor management, in favour of inter-row planting a range of cover crops. This assists in the control of vine vigour, simultaneously improving soil health and general biodiversity. We’re also a member of the handpicked club, still picking grapes by hand to achieve maximum quality - just as we’ve always done.

In general the soil profile of Waitiri Creek soils is 400 – 500mm of wind- blown glacial deposits on 4 – 5 metres of free draining alluvial schist. Our vineyards are between 300 – 350 metres above sea level.

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