St Helena Wine Estate
St Helena Wine Estate was established in 1978 and is situated just north of Christchurch City. Robin & Bernice Mundy and award-winning winemaker Alan McCorkindale are passionate in their dedication to producing exceptional quality fruit and wines for the local and export market.
Sitting to the north of the City of Christchurch in the rich tapestry of New Zealand's Canterbury Plains is St Helena Wine Estate. Founded in 1978 by the Mundy Family, the vineyard takes maximum advantage of the regions long, warm summers and dry autumns. An ideal climate for producing some of the best premium grapes the Southern Hemisphere has to offer. The result is a stunning selection of wines produced at the winery's 20 hectare estate. In fact, St Helena is acknowledged as the pioneer in establishing premium Pinot Noir for New Zealand. Owners Robin and Bernice Mundy and award-winning winemaker Alan McCorkindale are passionate in their dedication to producing exceptional quality fruit and wines from the estate vineyard and the continuing development of Canterbury as one of New Zealand's finest wine producing regions. In recent years our emphasis has changed to focusing on export and our wine is now consumed in the UK, USA, Asia, Australia and Europe as well as NZ.
Vineyard & Climate: The vineyard at St Helena is established on free-draining alluvial silt loams which, coupled with the close proximity of the Waimakariri River, produce near-perfect growing conditions for the cool-climate grape varieties planted. The river produces continual air movement which reduces the risk of frost and the stop banks and trees planted on these act as an effective windbreak. The climate in Canterbury gives St Helena Wine Estate 900-1100 degrees Celcius on the heat summation index and approximately 140mm of rainfall during the February to April period prior to and during harvest. The low levels of rainfall give little disease and rot problems found in areas north of Canterbury. Despite being on similar lattitudes as warmer grape-growing areas in Europe, the absence of continental land masses gives New Zealand wine regions cooler summers and warmer winters than its Northern Hemisphere counterparts.
Alan McCorkindale - Winemaker: Internationally renowned winemaker Alan McCorkindale has been producing the St Helena wines since 1998. Alan has twenty-two years of international wine making experience including Australia, Burgundy, Germany and Alsace, and an enviable record of gold medals and trophies. Alan says "the Canterbury climate and the mix of grape varieties grown at St Helena have parallels with the Northern European vineyards of Alsace and Burgundy, but with distinct regional Canterbury qualities. In my winemaking I like to use a mix of technology and innovation together with very traditional, Old World practices to produce stylish, elegant wines which are very highly regarded both nationally and internationally".
In 2002, St Helena celebrated 21 years of winemaking with the release of their "Bernice" 2002 Pinot Blanc. Other wines produced are Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Fortified Pinot Noir. New releases this year (2006) will be 2004 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir and 2004 Single Vineyard Merlot.
Contact
Phone: +64 3 3238202
Fax: +64 3 3238252
Postal
Address: 		PO Box 1, Belfast, Christchurch.
Delivery
Address: 		Coutts Island, RD, Christchurch.
Staff
Owner: Robin & Bernice Mundy
Manager: Robin Mundy
Sales: Robin Mundy
Marketing: Robin Mundy
Production Manager: Tim Riley(Bottling)
Winemaker: Alan McCorkindale
Assistant Winemaker: Hamish Kempthorne
Viticulturist: Andrew Mundy
Producer Details
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-4pm
Vineyards: 50
Production: 100,000+
Winery Tours: No
Facilities: Tasting Room.
Newsletter: Yes -
Wineclub: No
Sales
Cellar Door: Yes
Internet: No
Direct Mail: Yes
Via Retailers: Yes
Wines from this Producer
St Helena Gewürztraminer | 2004
St Helena Marlborough Chardonnay | 2004
St Helena Pinot Blanc Bernice | 2002
St Helena Pinot Gris | 2004
St Helena Pinot Noir | 2004
St Helena Riesling | 2004
St Helena Sauvignon Blanc | 2005
St Helena Single Vineyard Merlot | 2004
St Helena Single Vineyard Pinot Noir | 2004