| Mystery Creek Wines Ltd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There's still 2ha of the winter fruit being harvested but it's being phased out over the next five years as grapes, mainly Chardonnay, take centre stage. "The first Chardonnay was planted in 1990 but it didn't work so we changed clones then leased the land until 2000 when we harvested our first commercial vintage. The vineyard was established with the help of David Jordan and the initial cuttings supplied by Steve Smith (MW)." Meanwhile Garry completed a one-year full time viticultural and winemaking course at Gisborne Polytechnic and in 1999 built a state of the art winery. Success was immediate with the 2000 Barrique Fermented Chardonnay winning a gold medal at the Liquorland Top 100. It's also picked up silver and bronze medals. "We've got 2.5ha of Chardonnay as well as a bit of Merlot and Pinot Noir which comes into production in 2003. I've got faith in the Waikato as a region where Pinot Noir will succeed. The climate is drier and sunnier than it was when we came here, although there are still the inherent problems of too much rain at the wrong times. "In the future I'm looking at planting Viognier and Pinot Gris as well as more Pinot Noir because it gives us the option of making a Methode Traditionelle. TALKING ABOUT OUR WINES 2000, our first vintage, was Waikato's answer to 1998 in Hawkes Bay. We harvested 20 tonnes and made 1100 cases (750 barrique fermented and 350 unwooded) as well as selling juice because we didn't have the capacity. We won gold, silver and bronze at New Zealand wine shows, an almost unprecedented success rate for a new winery, especially one in a region that had been written off by the critics. 2001 vintage A late frost and rain at flowering cut the vintage and resulted in only 500 cases. The Reserve and Mystery Creek labels are currently on the market but the hand-picked (unwooded) is already a sell out. 2002 vintage A late frost killed 75% of the fruit and rain at flowering resulted in botrytis. In spite of this we harvested six tonnes (350 cases) and will buy in 7000 litres of premium Gisborne Chardonnay to make a further 750 cases. 2003 vintage Our aim is for the vineyard to produce 15,000 litres (1500 cases) of Chardonnay plus a little Merlot and Pinot Noir. |
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| Wines from this Producer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mystery Creek Chardonnay | 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mystery Creek Reserve Chardonnay | 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mystery Creek Syrah Rose | 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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