STONYRIDGE VINEYARD is a fully integrated vineyard and winery complex, conceived and operated with the single purpose of winemaking excellence. We believe that wine quality is primarily determined out in the vineyard by the climate that it enjoys and the dedicated work of our viticulturists. Winemaking is then a matter of following traditional and natural techniques on near perfect grapes. Our aim is to make the highest quality Cabernet blend wine in New Zealand and we firmly believe that it is possible to produce some of the finest wines on earth, here in New Zealand.
The winemaking follows traditional Bordeaux methods backed up by scientific analysis. All wines are gently aged in oak barriques and are not filtered before bottling. The flagship wine is Stonyridge Larose and the second label is Airfield Cabernet, both being Bordeaux style red wines.
| LOCATION: | Onetangi Road, Waiheke Island, Hauraki Gulf |
| LATITUDE & LONGITUDE: | 36Deg 48' S, 175Deg 04' E |
| DISTANCE FROM SEA: | 1 kilometre both to the North and to the South. |
| DISTANCE FROM AUCKLAND: | 12 Nautical miles. |
| TIME FROM AUCKLAND: | 8 minutes Helicopter, 30 minutes Fast Ferry |
| HEIGHT ABOVE SEA.LEVEL: | 30M |
| PROPERTY AREA: | 10 hectares |
| ASPECT: | North facing |
| SOIL: | Poor Waitemata clay saturated with manganese nodules. |
| ENCEPAGEMENT: | Cabernet Sauvignon 78% Merlot 16% Cabernet Franc 3% Malbec 3% Petit Verdot (when available) |
| VINE AGE: | Mainly planted in 1982 and 1983 |
| ROOTSTOCKS: | Trials on eight different rootstocks |
| VITICULTURE: | Almost organic; with no insecticides and minimal use of accepted fungicides |
| PRUNING: | Double Guyot Medocaine (two canes) |
| BUDSIHECTARE: | 55,000 (Bordeaux Appellation 60,000) |
| HARVEST: | Select hand picking |
| WINERY: | European design with three level process area and underground 'chai' or barrel cellar |
| WINERY TOURS: | By appointment only |
The estate was established in 1982 by Stephen White after extensive searching for a site and maritime climate similar to that of Bordeaux. The ideal property was found on Waiheke Island, famous for its low summer rainfall, high sunshine hours and beautiful white sand beaches. The vineyard, overlooked by an olive grove, is nestled beside a 100m high rocky ridge, called Stonyridge on poor but free draining soil, just one kilometre from the sea.
The vineyard was planted and is operated to yield low quantities of extremely high quality fruit. Waiheke Island vineyards regularly harvest Cabernet Sauvignon earlier and riper than any other viticultural area in New Zealand.
First place (Gold Medal) Royal Easter Show Competition
Wine of the Year Wine Report Magazine
Top NZ '87 Cabernet National Business Review
Wine of the Year Metro Magazine
First Place '87 Vintage Great NZ Cabernet Tasting
Second Place '87 Vintage Cuisine Magazine
One of Top Ten Red Wines of Decade Auckland Star
Campbell's Choice National Business Review
Gold Medal Royal Easter Show Competition
Bronze Medal Air NZ Wine Competition Only three Stonyridge wines have ever been entered in national wine competitions, and they have all won medals; two golds and a bronze
"One of the Top Twenty Cabernets in the
World"
- World Guide to Cabernet, London
"One of the Top One Hundred Wines in the
World"
- Arcigola Slow Food, Italy (the world's largest wine
publication)
"One of New Zealand's '1st Fifteen'
Wines"
- Winestate Magazine, Australia
"New Zealand's most collectible and
expensive red"
-Cuisine Magazine, New Zealand
"if New Zealand had a Classification of
Growths Stonyridge would be highly placed in it. Stonyridge opens
its order book for each vintage - just as a Bordeaux chateau
would - before the wine is bottled, and all that is available
sells out within forty-eight hours.
- Gourmet Magazine, New York
" Larose is a classical Bordeaux blend of
hand sorted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and
Malbec...great power and depth"
- Der Feinschmecker, Germany
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