Te Whare Ra Riesling D 2020

Te Whare Rā (TWR) is a boutique, certified organic vineyard and winery located in the Marlborough sub-region of Renwick. Te Whare Ra is a Māori name meaning ‘house in the sun’. It was originally established in 1979 and since 2003 it has been owned and nurtured by two winemakers, Anna and Jason Flowerday.

Their 11 hectare vineyard is planted to 7 different varietals and is home to the oldest vines in the region. They have spent more than 20 years bringing these old vines back to life by farming organically with a regenerative mindset, and with the future custodians of the land in mind. And at the same time, they have been quietly building a reputation as thoughtful, organic winemakers whose wines are now globally recognised as amongst the best from New Zealand.

The Riesling grapes were hand-harvested on April 6th, 2020, from Block 4 in TWR’s home vineyard, planted with a mixture of Riesling clones. After harvesting, the grapes were gently whole-bunch pressed and the juice was then cold-settled for 48 hours to clarify before fermentation. Fermentation was in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures, before being halted by chilling. The wine was then aged on fine lees for several months with regular stirring. It underwent gentle fining and filtration before bottling.