History

The first Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir vines were planted in 2001, with subsequent plantings of Pinot Noir in 2002, Pinot Gris in 2004 and Riesling in 2005.

It has always been the philosophy of owners, Graeme Lindsay and Heather Anderson, to 'Do it Once, Do it Right'.

A high standard of viticulture management is practiced with emphasis on sustainable winegrowing. The Tresillian vineyard has been accredited as Certified Sustainable by Sustainable Wine Growing New Zealand ®.

The Tresillian vineyard is situated on a flat, sheltered site. The cool nights develop the fruit characteristics of the grapes. The soils are Templeton Loam topsoil over old riverbed.

The first commercial vintage under the Tresillian label was harvested in 2005 and entrusted to award winning winemaker Grant Whelan. The 2005 Cox Block Pinot Gris received Silver in the Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2005 and then Gold Medal and Supreme White Wine Award in the April edition of Home & Entertaining magazine.

The 2005 Pinot Noir was released in November 2006 and demonstrates concentrated black fruit flavours, forest floor, cinnamon and mushroom in the mid-palate and an intense white pepper on the back palate. The wine was awarded a Silver Medal in the 2006 Air NZ Wine awards (the top award for Pinot Noir for the whole of Canterbury!) It has subsequently been awarded 4½ stars (Silver Medal) in Wine Orbit magazine July 2007.

We hand-harvested 17 tonnes of Pinot Noir and 3 tonnes of Pinot Gris in late April and early May 2006.

The 2006 Pinot Gris has characteristic ripe pear, white peach, nashi, quince and lychee characters. It was made in a dry style and has the same syrupy mouthfeel that made the 2005 wine so good. It was awarded Bronze in the 2006 Air NZ Wine Awards and then 4½ stars (91/100) (Silver Medal) in Wine Orbit magazine July 2007.

The 2006 Rosé of Pinot Noir was an exciting wine. It had strawberry on the nose and palate with white pepper on the back palate. It was made in the dry style and with alcohol of 11.1%, it made a stunning picnic wine. It was a wonderful match with warm smoked salmon with cream cheese on Ciabatta! It received 4 stars in Wine Orbit July 2007.

The 2006 Pinot Noir was bottled in July and November 2007 and initially had an amazing chocolate character on the nose and in the mid-palate. That initial chocolate aroma softened and integrated over its first year in the bottle and now the wine has layers of aroma and flavour. You might find chocolate, elegant black berry fruit, mushroom, tamarillo, cinnamon and forest floor with our characteristic white pepper on the back palate. Its complexity has caused it to be likened to burgundy from the Cðte d’Or. It is mid-bodied and has amazing intensity on the nose. It continues top earn a loyal following of Pinot lovers.

The 2007 season was a heart-breaking disappointment for us. We were hit by an air frost in November 2006 that blitzed the young shoots and put paid to all our plans for the vintage. Our frost-protection systems are effective against normal radiation frosts but ineffective against the air frost. The air frost means that there is no inversion layer of warm air that our system requires. We were able to source some grapes from 3 local vineyards that had escaped the worst of the frost, and made 4 wines.

The 2007 Pinot Gris while slightly lighter than the 2006, had the same white fruit on the nose and palate. It is an elegant wine and earned several medals in local and international competitions.

The 2007 Riesling has fabulous green apple characters on the nose and palate and is drinking superbly . It has the same low alcohol level as 2006 (11.5%) and is made in an off-dry style (10g/L residual sugar.) This wine is available in 375ml bottles as well as the usual 750ml. It was second in its class and top NZ wine in the Small Vignerons Wine Awards in Canberra, Australia in August 2008.

The 2007 vintage marked the first release of Cerelia (named after the Greek goddess of the harvest) our Spätlese style Riesling. This is a delightfully crisp medium/sweet wine with low (9.3%) alcohol and elegant red apple, citrus and honey flavours. It is now showing the first honey characters due to bottle age. We love this wine slightly chilled at any time, but it really is best with a creamy blue cheese and crackers after dinner. This wine is only available in half size (375ml) bottles.

The 2007 vintage saw the first wine from grapes sourced from the Sunnybrae vineyard in French Farm Bay, on Banks Peninsula. Our Rosė d’Akaroa was a blend of Merlot (70%) and Pinot Noir grapes and presented as a lovely savoury wine ideally suited to lobster and salmon dishes.

The 2008 vintage saw wines from our home block and again from the Sunnybrae vineyard, now leased and fully managed. In addition, we bought grapes from a contract grower in Swannanoa in North Canterbury.

In October 2008 we bottled our Pinot Gris from the home block. This wine has all the characters of the 2005 Pinot Gris and was awarded 1st= place in the Pinot Gris competition in Wine NZ Magazine Autumn 2009 issue. We were delighted witht his result as we had always considered this vintage to be the equal of the '05.

Our 2008 Dry Riesling from the home block turned out to be a stunner. It had lovely citrus aromas and flavours It earned us our first Cuisine Magazine result. It was awarded 5 Stars and made the Top Ten in New Zealand in the March 2009 issue of Cuisine.

We offered our first wine from the Sunnybrae Vineyard bottled under our new d’Akaroa label. This wine has citrus and interesting floral notes. It is slightly drier that the Tresillian example and was a little slower in developing. The two dry Rieslings earned Bronze Medals within two weeks of bottling and the d’Akaroa Riesling got another Bronze at the Easter Show Wine Awards.

We also produced a Medium-Dry Riesling from the Swannanoa vineyard. It was slow to develop but came out of its shell in March '09. It now has lovely citrus and apple aromas and flavours. At 9.2% alcohol, 22g/L residual sugar and crispa cidity, it makes a lovely easy-drinking wine for any occasion. It was served with a lovely watercress soup at the White Tie Catering Cooking School in July 2009.

In March 2009 we bottled our first Chardonnay, made from grapes from the Sunnnbrae Vineyard near Akaroa. It is a stunning very lightly-oaked example demonstrating elegant apricot and on both the bnose and palate. It has been amazingly well received and has already earned quite a fan club.

The 2009 vintage again saw us lose the crop on the home block - we experienced another air (katabatic) frost on 6 November 2008 (we were in Bali attending our son Hamish's wedding) - so we are again dependent on the leased vineyards. We had taken the lease of the French Farm Vineyard next door to the Sunnybrae Vineyard, in French Farm Bay near Akaroa. Both vineyards cropped well, and with careful management, Heather and Robert have produced some stunning fruit. The first wines were bottled in November 2009.

Cellar Door wine tastings are available most days – we recommend phoning ahead on weekdays and also weekends between April and October.

To enquire about wine that is currently available, click here.