James Millton established his estate in 1984 and everyone thought he was crazy, but he proved he was a man ahead of his tie and we are all the better thanks to his and wife Annie’s pioneering efforts. Their Chardonnay from their home “Opou” vineyard is a legendary Gisborne Chardy; their 2016 is seriously complex, full of ripe stonefruits and lemon curd balanced by creamy barrel ferment textures, with mealy oak and a touch of flint which has a perfectly balanced acidity.

The use of So2 is within the bounds of the certification and is generally half as much as conventional wines. The international rhetoric of So2 free wines is a lengthy debate. Our primary goal is to try and produce the best wines from the given season, without any cosmetic makeovers.  For the production of this wine there is no added herbicide, insecticide, systemic fungicide, soluble fertiliser, yeasts, enzymes, acid, sugar or fining agents. The wine hasn’t been cross flow filtered nor reverse osmosis, just grapes, love and gratitude.