Paritua Wines - Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Paritua Vineyards is located on Maraekakaho Road in the heart of the Hawkes Bay 'Triangle’ District, one of New Zealand's most diverse regions for the production of both premium red and white grapes. We chose to name the vineyard Paritua as a tribute to the Paritua Stream, which meanders gently through our land. It is a name that also acknowledges our connection with the land and the people of New Zealand. Inspiration for the name 'Stone Paddock' came from the free-draining, stony soils that make up Paritua Vineyards. The stones featured on the Stone Paddock label were gathered from our Syrah and Cabernet blocks.
The vineyards at Paritua
The past eight + years have been spent developing Paritua, literally from the ground up. In 2001 our first step was to consult New Zealand viticulturist Allan Clarke. We’ve long been inspired by the great wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux and - with Allan’s help - we ordered the best rootstock and clone options to enable us to produce new world wines inspired by those great classics. Allan continues to consult on further development of the vineyard.
Our vines began to arrive in 2003 and Richard Menzies joined us that July as vineyard manager. Since then, over 150 acres have been planted in three phases: seventy percent of our land is devoted to fruit that will yield the big red blends we favour – Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec – with Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay completing the picture. We have also installed a full overhead sprinkler frost protection system to eliminate crop loss.
Over the course of development, we worked on the vineyard infrastructure and began to collaborate with leading New Zealand architect, Simon Carnachan, of Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects (Auckland). Simon understood and shared our vision for bold architecture that truly embraces the landscape. Our barrel hall, executive offices, vineyard manager’s home and guest suite, implement shed and frost pump shed are now complete.
