Hunter's Wines
A toast for Hunters "We are doing a special bottling with a
special label for a company that we've dealt with in the UK for over 20 years. In 1986 our Oak Aged Sauvignon Blanc won Wine of the Show at the Sunday Times Wine Festival and it was the first New Zealand wine and certainly the first Marlborough wine to win any acclaim in the UK. It's important because so many of the historical wine books and articles say that winning that award in London was the start of the international focus on New Zealand wines. Now, 30 years on, it's our time to say thank you." Since then Hunter's Wines have won over
We raise a glass for one of Marlborough's oldest wineries as they celebrate a landmark feat. Hunter's Wines is a recognised pioneer of the Marlborough wine industry and one of New Zealand's best known family owned wineries.
ESTABLISHED BY IRISHMAN, THE late Ernie Hunter in 1979, the company is now headed by his wife, Jane Hunter who has been instrumental in establishing the Marlborough region as one of New Zealand's major grape growing regions. Under her leadership Hunter's has expanded to six times its original size and increased to an annual output of 80,000 cases. This year Hunter's Wines will celebrate its 30th vintage; making it one of the oldest
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wineries in the region. "Hunters celebrated its 30th birthday last
year but because some of the wines go into oak barrels and have not yet been bottled we have to wait until the middle of 2012 to release them," Jane explains. Lucky for us… In commemoration Hunter's Wines will
release an exclusive wine for the UK… its Kaho Roa (Oak Aged Sauvignon Blanc) an iconic wine for Hunter's and New Zealand.
160 gold medals and over 30 trophies across its range of Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay,, Kaho Roa, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Rose, MiruMiru™ NV and MiruMiru™ Reserve. So now, thirty years on did Jane ever
imagine that her company would grow to what it is today? "Not in my wildest dreams," she
affirms. "Thirty years ago we struggled. We struggled to get people to visit the vineyard, we struggled to open the wine shop and we
struggled to send the wine into each of the countries we're now in and then suddenly the wheels were in motion and we were off. "My nephews are in their early 20s and
they think that grapes have always been in Marlborough; it's hard for that generation to think that 30 years ago there weren't any vineyards here." After 30+ years in the industry Jane's
favourite element of the winemaking process remains the same… "Drinking" although the qualified viticulturist does enjoy "taking off" by herself; wondering up and down the rows examining the various stages of growth of the grapes and anticipating the final result… the wine in the bottle.
