The Vineyard

Porters vineyard was first planted by Annabel and John Porter in 1992 with our first vintage in 1995. Our vineyard is on Kitchener Street, the main road into Martinborough. The vineyard is tiny - just five acres - and we grow Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Yields are low. Our emphasis is on producing grapes of the best quality every vintage. Our winemaking methods are gentle, resulting in wines which truly reflect the terroir and vintage conditions. Great wine, after all, is made in the vineyard.

The vineyard is very much a hands-on operation, and we adopt organic principles and practices wherever possible. Vine prunings are either burnt or mulched back into the soil, the pips and skins from the pressed grapes are composted and used as mulch, and sprays are kept to a minimum. Even our packaging is designed to be used as permanent cellar boxes or recycled.

From the headlands of the vineyard we produce a tiny quantity of essential lavender oil and we also have over a hundred olive trees of various cultivars including Manzanilla, Leccino and Barnea from which we produce our own extra virgin olive oil.

Our wines are now served not only in the top restaurants in Wellington (including: Logan Brown, The White House, Boulcott Street Bistro, Beaujolais, Zibibo) but also in top Auckland restaurants and throughout the country. We also export our Pinot Noir to the London wine trade, and other places overseas.

For us to have been able to create all this from a bare stony paddock within the space of ten years - and to raise our children in Martinborough - is reward in itself.

We hope you enjoy our wines and oil as much as we have enjoyed producing them.