Cracroft Chase
110 Shalamar Dr, Cashmere,
Christchurch
Ph: 03-337 9339, fax: 03-337 9577
Email: bluesun@xtra.co.nz
General manager/Viticulturist:
Alessandro Laryn
Winemaker: Alistair Gardner
Wine sales: Cellar door, mail order, retail
Price range: $18-$24
Winery tasting/Tours: By appointment
Despite its most English of names, this winery at the foot of the Port Hills has Italian owners. Wilma Laryn explains that the Cracroft-Wilson family were once the owners of what is now the Christchurch suburb of Cashmere and that the cul-de-sac valley where the vineyard is sited was where they hunted – hence ‘Chase’.
“It already had that name when we bought the property,” says Wilma, “so we left it unchanged.”
The sheltered, five-hectare vineyard is co-owned by Wilma and her husband Alessandro, a former commodities trader, and is planted entirely in Pinot Gris. It produced its first small crop in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2003 that the first wine – a mere 225 cases – was bottled under the Cracroft Chase label. A much better vintage in 2004 saw 44 tonnes of grapes processed – enough for nearly 3000 cases. The on-site winery, built in 2002, has the capacity for 5000 cases.
Winemaker Alistair Gardner ferments the wine to total dryness and leaves it on its lees for several months before bottling. Although it’s bone dry, Alessandro says the aim is not to produce an Italian-style Pinot Grigio. “I believe that New Zealand wine has its own characteristics and it is quite useless to try to imitate other countries,” he says. 
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