Maori Point is a family-run vineyard specializing in Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris

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Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are specially suited to Central Otago's unique combination of soils and weather

A great wine is the expression of its terroir

Soils, people, place and climate, the foundations of great wines

Central Otago terroirs are unique

Stony infertile soils and low rainfall limit vigor.
Vines put their energy into producing low volumes of intensely flavoured grapes.

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Intense fruit-driven wines

Each vine sends deep roots to find moisture in the fast-draining gravel and rocks below

Caring for the soil

Glacial dust and gravel mulched with fragrant herbs and flowers give balanced nutrients to the vines

A family vineyard

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John and Marilyn (centre) with friends, celebrating "Taste of Tarras"

Fine wines made with passion

Fruit production is limited by pruning, leaf-plucking and fruit-thinning to leave small crops of well-ripened grapes.
Each vine has a history, hand-tended to produce fine grapes

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In the heart of Central Otago

Halfway between Cromwell and Wanaka, on the bank of the Clutha river at Tarras, Maori Point is surrounded by mountains, snow-covered in winter. The area is usually cloud-free and dry. The southern boundary is sheltered by pine trees but the nor-west wind can funnel round between the mountain ranges and sweep across the vineyard.

The soil is wind-blown loess over deep deposits of large rounded rocks dumped at the foot of the Hawea glacier, 10,000 years ago. Since then little has grown in this arid and infertile environment so there was little organic matter in the soil.

Flowers and aromatic plants are grown in the inter-rows and then mown and mulched under the vines to add intense fruit flavours to the wine grapes. Water and mulching have made an enormous difference and in a few years the soil in the vine rows has changed colour from pale sand to dark loam.

John Harris and Marilyn Duxson, 413 Maori Point Road, Tarras Ph 03 428 8842 or Cell 027 243 2725