Stonecroft | Hawkes Bay
Stonecroft Wines is a boutique, family owned winery producing organic wines from its vineyards in the Hawke's Bay wine region of New Zealand's north island. Stonecroft was the first winery to be established in the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District of Hawkes Bay and it has the oldest Syrah vines in New Zealand.
Dr Alan Limmer established Stonecroft in 1984, replanting an old vineyard of Syrah vines which he rescued from impending destruction from the Te Kauwhata research station. This old vineyard, originally planted in 1897, is reputedly from the original Syrah vines brought to New Zealand, from the Rhone Valley, by James Busby. The same vine stock that went on to create all the famous Shiraz vineyards in the Barossa, and is formed from the Sirene clone of Syrah that is still widely used in high quality sites in the Rhone today.
Although Stonecroft is well known for its outstanding Syrah the estate also produces excellent styles of Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay as well as the superb red Bordeaux Blend, Ruhanui. Only organic practices are used and both the two original vineyards and the winery are fully certified organic with AsureQuality, with a third parcel of vines presently under conversion.
Stonecroft is now owned by Dermot McCollum and Andria Monin, who live on the Roy’s Hill vineyard with their two children Emer and Oscar, plus Jasper the cat and Stanley the chocolate lab.
For those of you who react to the addition of sulphur in wines, then it is interesting to note that Stonecroft's "Undressed Syrah" is produced and bottled with no added sulphur whatsoever.