Muddy Water Wine | Waipara

Muddy Water is one of Waipara’s finest estates dedicated to the production of unique, hand-crafted wines. The Muddy Water name is a literal translation of the regional name of Waipara (‘Wai’ meaning Water, ‘para’ meaning Mud). Michael East, a Christchurch medical specialist and his viticulture-qualified wife, Jane, bought their sloping property in 1992 and produced their first wine in 1996.

The Easts retired in 2011 after two decades of winemaking accolades and passed stewardship of Muddy Water to the Thomas family, who continue to take the winery from strength to strength under the philosophy of minimal intervention, creating wines that fully express both site and vintage.

The Waipara wine region boast's ideal climatic conditions - cold, frosty winters, warm dry summers and dry sunny autumns - for the production of intensely flavoured grapes. The Muddy Water estate achieved full Organic certification in 2010 for it's home vineyards, from where the handpicked fruit, travels no more than 500 metres to the gravity-fed winery.

As the first certified organic winery in Canterbury, the vineyard and winery alike are run according to biodynamic principles. Muddy Water believe that their wines are a great expression of the region and try to interfere with this as little as possible, aiming to maximise wine quality and long-term sustainability.

Muddy Water Wines Website