Giesen Small Batch Chardonnay 2015 (6 x 750mL), Hawkes Bay NZ.

Winemakers

Two boys with itchy feet and a penchant to travel set off from Germany and found themselves in New Zealand. Sons of a stone mason, they were planning to follow the family enterprise but on a whim, because it reminded them of home, they purchased land and planted a vineyard just outside of Christchurch. People said they were just a little bit nuts and the area was far too marginal to make wine.

But hey they’re German and really understand what cold is! Younger brother Marcel took himself to winemaking school and four years later joined Theo and Alex on the South Island to start making wine from their vineyard. They may not have followed the family trade but they certainly adopted the family business philosophy - as their father always said, if someone gives you an order, take the order! And so they set out to identify new vineyard locations and stumbled on the Wairau Valley of Marlborough. Theo says, “Only passion produces excellence"… and if their track record is anything to go by, it also creates wines which people across the world know and love.

Vineyards

Sitting in the top right-hand corner of New Zealand’s South Island, Marlborough is framed by picturesque waters and snow-capped mountains. Its highly sought-after Wairau Valley is an ancient river bed nestled between two mountain ranges and bordered to the North by Cook Strait. It’s a finite sub-region within the acclaimed Marlborough wine growing belt. The Giesen brothers own 720 acres of vineyard and continue to maintain long term supply contracts with some of the Valley’s best growers.

They have now embarked on a new path, ripping out a Sauvignon Blanc vineyard and leaving the land fallow for two vintages before replanting a wholly organic, close planted pinot noir vineyard. As is the New Zealand way, Giesen is certified in sustainable viticulture and reinvesting back into their vineyards for the future.