Description
ONE PLACE – PURE MARLBOROUGH
There is no wine anywhere in the world that tastes like the wine of Marlborough.
The climate is crucial to the character of Marlborough, and so too is the soil. Most of the soils were laid down within the last 14,000 years; carved and eroded by glaciers in the high country and carried down to the coast by snowmelt rivers. Balance, purity, and intense flavour set around impressive aroma, distinctive fruit, and appealing balanced acidity are unrivaled.
We believe in the freedom that being an individual brings – free from the expectations, the politics, the conventions, the habits, the rules. This belief serves us well on our parcel of, what we like to think of, as the best winemaking land in Marlborough, the western side of the Waihopai Valley. Perfectly positioned in the southwest corner of Marlborough we have created an elaborate matrix of over 200 micro sites each with their own individual planting characteristics. This variation adds incredible depth and complexity to our wines. Here we are free to use sustainable viticulture. We are free to look after our vines more personally, more often by hand. We are free to focus winemaking on quality ahead of quantity. Purity is perhaps one of the most over-used words when people talk about wine. But what does it actually mean? At Ara, we’re crystal clear about this. Purity, to us, means from a single source. And when your single source happens to be 400 hectares of Marlborough’s oldest alluvial soil, blessed with the sunniest days, cold nights, and the freshest cleanest air on earth, we’re able to create wines with an unmistakable purity so intense, you can taste it. Herringbone is a geological formation of hills bordering our vineyard. Their profile of undulating patterns either side of a central ridge line was caused by water flowing down the slopes and carving through the earth over thousands of years. These hills lie to the west of our vineyard and run parallel to the Waihopai River in Marlborough, New Zealand’s most respected wine region.
