Black cherry, violet, and subtle herb characters on the nose, with complex liquorice and earth flavours on the palate. The tannins are firm but melting and provide a supporting structure.

We’ve made the Wildsong wines with an eye on evolving wine styles but mostly with an ambition to make honest wines that taste like where they come from while working hard to make sure we farm the right way.

These wines are up-front tasty, yet they’re not simple.  Layered, interesting and backed by winemaking street-cred. Wildsong wines are uncomplicated and grounded with a gentle tale or two to tell of the soil they were grown in and the people who made them.

Grown with respect, made with heart and packed with attitude. There’s a little Wildsong in each of us.

Our Maraekakaho Vineyard is planted on an ancient river terrace that was formed by the Ngaruroro River which now flows around 60 meters below the vineyard. With its headwaters in the Kaweka Ranges to the west of Hawkes Bay, the river has created landscapes through glacial melts, floods and droughts over the last few hundred thousand years. The old terraces that remain are made up of greywacke (a compressed sandstone) boulders and gravels from the ranges, and a topsoil borne of windblown loess, volcanic ash and humus created by ancient forests and vegetation.

The arrival of the New Year brought with it the long, hot, sunny summer days with moderate-cool nights for perfect ripening conditions, whilst preserving fresh acidity. Superb harvest climatic conditions provided the luxury of optimal picking decisions not hurried by the threat of rain. The result is an outstanding year for our Hawke’s Bay wines. Yields are slightly down, but with exceptional quality across all varieties. Full flavour and tannin ripeness in reds, with moderate alcohol levels.

The Pinot Noir was picked pretty ripe and allowed to soak on skins for around 5 days before ferment kicked off. We like Pinot Noir Ferments to hit 30 plus degrees to extract colour and tannin.