Wairau River

The Rose family were pioneers in the now prestigious Rapaura district, their foresight in 1978 recognising the potential for the region’s free draining stony soil and abundantly pure artesian water. After supplying grapes for other producers for several years, Phil and Chris decided in 1991 to release a wine under their own label and so the Wairau River label was born. In 2002 a purpose built 3,500 ton winery was established on Rapaura Road, incorporating a state-of-the-art bottling line, ensuring that the highest degree of quality control was established throughout all aspects of the winemaking process. Now, after almost 40 years in the industry, all five children are also involved from the viticulture and winemaking side to finance, administration and the running of the very popular Wairau River restaurant. Wairau River has partners in over 25 international markets across all channels. Wairau River is a family wine estate, and the beauty of this is that we nurture the wines from the smallest shoot on the vine to the bottle. Everything is done by us, hands on. In the vineyards Phil and Hamish Rose take care to keep yields low to ensure the fruit ripens perfectly (in the shallow soil with low fertility which gives rise to such concentrated flavours). Once the fruit is picked and brought in to the winery in small parcels, each distinctive block is matched to its own tank, allowing the small batch vintning that is the key to building all the elements of the Wairau River blend. It goes without saying that only the best grapes go into our flagship Wairau River label.

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