Wrights Wines

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History

Family

Winemaking has been in the family ever since the 1930's. My great-grandfather Stanko Jurakovich came from Yugoslavia when he was a child. He registered as a winemaker in the 1930's and was one of the first winemakers in Kumeu (West Auckland). The vineyard and winery was sold to San Marino Vineyards, which is now successfully known as Kumeu River.

My parents continued with horticulture growing tomatoes, cucumbers, carnations, strawberries, beans, etc...

Presently

We manage 30 acres organically and biodynamically. Our land is fully certified with AsureQuality.

The grape varieties we grow are Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meniuer.

We own and operate two vineyards - Terrace and Valley Vineyard, which are located in the renowned grape growing region of Ormond Valley, Ormond, Gisborne.

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2012 Vintage

Over the 2011 year we built a straw bale home on our Vineyard and moved in just before the 2012 Christmas. During the build we were living in a Highlander Portacom, the size of a shipping container. During that year we even managed to fit in the birth of Luke, whom ended up being a caravan baby for the first 4 months of his life.

The 2012 vintage was a tough one in regards to lack of sunshine hours and to many cyclones. In the end we managed to harvest most of the fruit prior to the storms.

The 2012 vintage also saw us purchase outside fruit from the Marlborough and Hawkes Bay region for our The Natural Wine Company brand. 

The wines we are making from the 2012 vintage is our Vintage Methode, Entity Methode, Classic Chardonnay, Classic Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, and under our The Natural Wine Company - Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay/Viognier.

happening with us, you are welcome to subscribe to our newsletter, on left hand side of screen.

2010 Vintage

An exciting vintage for us. We harvested over 25 tonne of grapes from both our vineyards, which were managed and certified organic.

This year we made our first Verjuice from Chardonnay grapes. We also harvested our Olive Oil from our vineyard and two other spray free locations in Gisborne.

We also decided to make a larger volume of our Entity Methode Traditionnelle, which was produced for the first time from our own Mendoza Chardonnay grapes, which were organically certified. This is exciting for the industry as it is very hard to find organic Methode Traditionnelle in NZ. We expect to release this wine later in 2011.

We also made our first Reserve Chardonnay, a big bold style with lovely clean/lean palate - a must try. This wine was harvested around 25 brixs, aged in new French oak with full malolactic fermentation.

Our Gewurztraminer style is getting more defined as we gain experience and knowledge. Our 2010 Gewurztraminer has proved to be our best yet, our timing of harvest was bang on. Clean grapes, some nice shrivelled up berries - raisons, nice acid. With the help of extended skin contact in the press and partial barrel fermentation, we have ended up with a very aromatic and varietal distinctive dry style wine.

2009 Vintage

The 2009 Vintage saw the first grapes harvested from our Terrace Vineyard.

IN 2009 we also set up our winery on our vineyard. We souced winery equipment from several locations - Hawkes Bay, New Plymouth and locally Gisborne.

This was all very exciting, we refer to it as 'living the dream'. Sure it was a busy time and hard work but it is also very rewarding and exciting.

During the vintage of 2009 we purchased another vineyard in Ormond Valley Road, known as the Revington Vineyard. This vineyard is referred to in Gisborne as the Grand Cru of vineyards.

From this vineyard we produced Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay. The 2009 Vintage saw the release of our Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon wine. A ver popular style that sells ou quickly.

Agan we made our Entity Methode Traditionnelle. We did not have enough of our own grapes to make this wine, so we purchased grapes from Reid and Leigh Fletchers vineyard in Gisborne.

The 2009 Vintage saw the making of a new Methode Traditionnelle for us - named 'Vintage'. This methode is made from a selection of different grape varieties which we grow, co fermented in barrel, aged in barrel for 6 months with partial malolactic fermentation. This initial wine was bottled in Magnums and is aged in bottles for two years before it is disgorged. We expect to release this wine later in 2011, nearly 3 years later after it was harvested. 

2007 Vintage

Wow, what a season, one of the best wine making seasons in Gisborne for a while. We weren't planning to make any wines until we harvest our own organic grapes. But with selling out of wines and with customers wanting to purchase we decided to make an unoaked chardonnay.

In 2007 we were still actively setting up our vineyard and orchard, which also contains olives and cherries.

2005 Vintage

Wow! What a year, we purchased 15 acres of bare land, previously used for cattle farming. The block is situated on Ormond Valley Road, Gisborne.

The block is north facing, sloped and contains a hill which we have manually terraced out with a spade and planted out with four red varieties. We have also planted out the bottom north facing block out with four white grape varieties.

We have also planted a small block of olives, lavender and sunflowers to add diversity to the block.

During 2005 we released two wines the renowned Gewurztraminer and a new lively addition Late Harvest Semillon, two lovely wines.

2004 Vintage

This vintage I am working towards owning my own land, therefore I am consolidating on the wine producing side. My GW Chardonnay 2003 has sold out and I still have 2003 stocks of other wines. Therefore I decided only to produce chardonnay for the 2004 vintage. During vintage I worked at a local winery in the evenings and as an accountant during the day, while managing my wine business.

2003 Vintage

This vintage I produced GW Chardonnay, GW Sauvignon Blanc, GW Merlot and released my delicious Entity Methode Traditionnelle from the 2002 vintage.

This vintage I worked hard in the vineyards, managing the canopy, monitoring the fruit development and picking the fruit at its optimal levels, thus rewarding the final product immensely.

2002 Vintage

My desire is to produce wines that resemble the terroir of the land, that are produced by the most natural means available. A vineyard that has not been sprayed with herbicides, pesticides or fungicides.

For the 2002 vintage I sourced organic grapes for my GW label; Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay. These wines were produced and crafted in a vegan friendly manner which enhances the qualities of the grapes as naturally as possible.

I also produced my Entity Methode Traditionnelle. This wine is very special to me. It has the enigma-ability to bring people together during special occasions or get-togethers. This wine is a must.

2001 Vintage

Once I finished the course I went straight into producing my own wines while working at a local winery in Gisborne. In my first year of production I produced New Zealand's first certified vegan wines, certified through the New Zealand Vegetarian Society.

I leased equipment at the Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne, where I produced several different wine styles. Through contracting to growers to purchase their grapes I was able to produce these wines.

With the help of a friend in Hamilton (Dale Sattler) we developed the GW label. Under this label I released;

GW Chardonnay 2001
GW Gewurztraminer 2001

I also developed a sparkling wine range under my Entity label, releasing the Entity - Sparkling Merlot in 2001 and my Methode Traditionnelle in September 2002.