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Akarua

Welcome

Established in 1996 with first vintage three years later, Akarua has rapidly developed a reputation for producing quality wines. Our 2000 Pinot Noir received an outstanding accolade as the only gold medal awarded at the 2001 International Wine and Spirit Competition, held in London. The following year Akarua Pinot Noir 2001 was judged as a gold medal winner at the prestigious Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

And this year the unprecedented accolade of being placed first and second with our two styles of Pinot Noir, 2002 vintage. Our flagship wine, Akarua Pinot Noir 2002 was noted for its density and flavour concentration and scored 96 from a maximum 100 points. In addition, Akarua's second label "The Gullies" Pinot Noir 2002 impressed the panel and scored an impressive 94 points.

Then, to cap off a brilliant year Akarua Pinot Noir 2002 has won the Pinot Noir Trophy and been judged Wine of the show at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

This is a supreme accolade with 'Holy Grail' status and the Akarua Team is incredibly proud of this achievement.

Background to Akarua

As a viticultural region Central Otago is rapidly gaining an international reputation as the place to be, especially for growing Pinot Noir. Sir Clifford Skeggs has been one of the first to commit to this region on a large scale, and has thus secured one of the finest areas.

The vineyard consists of three main areas. The lower portion of 9 acres has about 800mm of sandy silt on deep, fine, alluvial gravel. The 'Main block', 30 acre terrace of finely fractured rock and gravel, overlaid by 300-400mm of very fine wind deposited silt. The 11 acre 'Hill block', has the same layer of the wind deposited silt, this time over fractured schist and decaying rock, which was the parent material of the main terrace.

The vines are 'Vertical Shoot Position' planted at 2,500 or 3,000 per hectare with an average of 15 shoots per meter and irrigation is maintained to keep the vines just above their stress point.
All three blocks have excellent drainage and just enough soil to maintain a grapevine with a modest crop load. We believe all three blocks will produce concentrated and tasty wine-grapes because of the soil, vine, and crop balance.

The plantings are 70% Pinot Noir with Pinot Gris and Chardonnay sharing the balance. The winery is designed and built to handle 500 tons with all the necessary equipment to ensure a no compromise approach to winemaking.
One of Pinot Noir's more telling features, is it's transparent nature: any fault or failing in the site, climate, farming or winemaking will be painfully obvious in the final wine, and no amount of talent or science can make up for what is already lost. That is why we carefully selected Bannockburn Heights as the home for our prestigious Akarua.

Sir Clifford Skeggs was quick to realise the promise the Central Otago region of New Zealand offered. He instinctively knew that this region could not only reinforce, but also substantially add to this country's international reputation for producing award winning, fine wines.