Totara Vineyards
219 Ngati Maru Hwy, Totara, Thames
(RD 1, Thames)
Ph: 07-868 6798, fax: 07-868 8729
General manager/Marketing/Sales:
Peter Coutts
Winemaker/Viticulturist: Gilbert Chan
Wine sales: Mail order
Price range: $7.95-$33.95
Winery tastings: 7 days year round
10am-5.30pm
In common with a few other producers of traditional fortified wines, Totara was left reeling by the introduction in 2003 of a tax imposed on ports and sherries with the declared intention of discouraging teenage drinkers. “We lost 60 percent of our customers,” says winemaker Gilbert Chan, who notes that all his regulars were middle-aged or elderly.
The business was rescued by the fact that it also produces a popular range of liqueurs – such as Totara Café and Totara Kiwifruit Liqueur – that weren’t affected by the impost.
Totara was established in Thames more than half a century ago under the name SYC Wines (after the initials of Gilbert’s father, Stanley Young Chan, who had once owned a fruit shop in Auckland and was widely known around the markets by those initials). Though primarily devoted to the production of fortified wines and liqueurs, Totara also produces a range of table wines that includes Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and a fruity, off-dry blend of Müller-Thurgau and Muscat.
Cabernet Sauvignon is grown in the tiny estate vineyard, but Gilbert says it’s not an ideal site and the grapes usually go into his port. The rest of the fruit is bought from contract growers, mainly in Hawke’s Bay.
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