Mike Eaton

Having spent the last 27 years as a viticulturist in 2001 when we made our first wines it was a baptism in fire. Working along with Matt Thompson and Fiona Buchannan there was good opportunity to see highly skilled winemakers at their craft in state of the art facilities.

In 2003 however the opportunity arose to work with a long time friend and a most highly regarded winemaker Mike Weersing. Mike has a huge history of winemaking that ranges from some of the finest estates of Burgundy to Cold Stream Hills in Australia and then finally to rest at Neudorf here in NZ.

From the 2004 vintage on I worked alongside Mike watching over his shoulder and as he became much busier with his own brand Pyramid Valley then slowly I took over the winemaking role. So no I am not a University trained winemaker. The statement has always been made that great wines were made in the vineyard, funny you never see any of the viticulturists up there taking the trophy home.

My approach to winemaking has been influenced heavily by my time working with Mike, our job is merely to guide the wine through the journey from fruit juice to alcohol and then through to a wine that has the ability to truly reflect the terroir of its origin. Fine wine should reflect a sense of place. So every time you begin a process you have to ask yourself the affect that will have on that individuality. This is why we prefer to use indigenous or wild ferments, much lower sulphur additions and use little or no fining prior to bottling. Where possible for the reds we also prefer to bottle unfiltered.

For blending each wine Jo and I taste all components of the wine and then look to blend a wine that best expresses the site, viticulture and most of all a touch of our own personality.