Greenhough Vineyard & Winery
Patons Rd, RD 1, Hope
Ph: 03-542 3868, fax: 03-542 3462
Email: greenhough.vineyard@clear.net.nz
General manager/Winemaker:
Andrew Greenhough
Marketing/Sales: Jenny Wheeler
Viticulturist: David McIntosh
Wine sales: Cellar door, mail order, retail
Price range: $18-$40
Winery tastings: Oct-Easter Sat-Sun
1pm-5pm; January 7 days; or by appointment year round
A star of the Nelson winemaking scene, Greenhough has received international acclaim for its Hope Vineyard Pinot Noir. The 2002 vintage earned a five-star rating in Britain’s Decanter magazine, sharing line honours in a tasting of 102 New Zealand Pinot Noirs with Kaituna Valley’s 2002 Awatere Vineyard wine.
Jenny Wheeler, Andrew Greenhough’s partner in the winery, describes the style of Pinot Noir that has evolved since they acquired the vineyard 13 years ago as halfway between the earthy, savoury notes of Martinborough Pinot Noir and the ‘fruit bomb’ flavours of Central Otago examples. “It’s not a tutti-frutti Pinot, but more about elegance, complexity and longevity.”
In common with several other leading Pinot Noir producers (such as Clive Paton of Ata Rangi and Tim Finn of Neudorf) Andrew is largely self-taught, though he once worked for Villa Maria as a cellar hand. Jenny says they made mistakes in their early years but things came together from about 1997 onwards.
The vineyard that Andrew and Jenny bought on the edge of the Waimea Plains in 1991 was first planted in the 1970s by Ranzau Wines, and the surviving vines are some of the oldest in Nelson. They pulled out some varieties – including Müller-Thurgau and Cabernet Sauvignon – but left Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir and gradually extended the vineyard, planting Chardonnay as well. The Pinot Noir vines were of an old clone known as 22 that still goes into the flagship Hope Vineyard wine, along with more recently developed clones planted in the past 10 years.
Greenhough Vineyard also gets fruit, including Sauvignon Blanc, from other properties in the area and has a vineyard under development on heavier soils near Mapua, where the plantings include Gewürztraminer. Although the winery is principally known for its Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc still rates as its biggest-selling wine.
A future addition to the Greenhough portfolio will be Pinot Blanc. It’s a rare variety in New Zealand but Andrew and Jenny have been encouraged by their experiments with fruit from the original Ranzau Wines vines to plant more.
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