Te Whare Ra Vineyard & Winery

It’s no secret that they like to do things a little differently in New Zealand. When it comes to great wine, the Kiwi scene is dominated by a series of small, quirky, forward-thinking boutique wineries, and while this is nothing particularly unusual nowadays, this trend can be traced back to one key game-changing winery: Te Whare Ra, also known as TWR. Set up in the early years of the New Zealand wine industry back in the 1970s, the original winemakers at TWR - Allen and Joyce Hogen - knew straight away that they had something special on their hands.

The land they were working with had some remarkable characteristics, and no matter what they did, the results seemingly never failed to be highly impressive. Indeed, TWR quickly gained a top-notch reputation for highly aromatic, elegant and expressive wines, which helped establish the unique characteristics that Marlborough would go on to be famed for.

When the rather brilliantly-named Anna and Jason Flowerday took over the site in 2003, eyebrows were quick to rise. Were this young Aussie couple going to continue in the same vein as the Hogens, and give New Zealand’s first boutique winery the respect it deserves? All concerns quickly dissipated, however.

It became apparent that the Flowerdays not only wanted to build upon their predecessors’ passion for expressive and unique wines, but they wanted to take their approach even further. Before long, TWR had become half organic, half biodynamic; and the zero-intervention, small-batch approach of the Flowerdays began producing wines which exceeded anyone’s already high expectations.

A slew of awards quickly arrived, new blends started being produced, and this beautiful Marlborough winery cemented its reputation for the 21st century as one to continue being excited about. Natural, delicious, and made with real lasting passion, TWR is the perfect expression of what New Zealand wine can and should be.

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