Villa Maria Estate is one of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's largest wine companies. Their vineyards are located throughout New Zealand, with production bases in Gisborne,

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

.David Hayward The University of Auckland: The Largest NZ Wine Companies in Cat. 3 (over 2 million litres of production). Sir George Fistonich founded the company in 1961, upon leasing a plot of land on Kirkbride Road in Mangere, Auckland from his parents. The company relocated to a larger site on Montgomerie Road in the same suburb, and has since expanded, but remains a family-owned and operated business.

Brands

Villa Maria Estate has a portfolio of several brands. These include Villa Maria, Vidal, Esk Valley, Thornbury, Riverstone, Left Field, Kidnapper Cliffs, and Te Awa. In addition to the New Zealand domestic market, Villa Maria Estate also distributes throughout Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

Wines

Villa Maria has six tiers of wine: Ngakirikiri, Reserve, Single Vineyard, Platinum Selection, Cellar Selection and Private Bin. Vidal covers three tiers: Legacy, Reserve and Estate. Esk Valley also covers three tiers: The Terraces, Winemaker's Reserve and Esk Valley Range. The Terraces is usually sold

en primeur ''En primeur'' or "wine futures", is a method of purchasing wines early while the wine (a vintage) is still in the barrel. This offers the customer the opportunity to invest before the wine is bottled. Payment is made at an early stage, a year o ...

and is only produced during selected vintages. Te Awa produces two tiers: Te Awa and Leftfield. Thornbury, Kidnapper Cliffs and Riverstone operate on a single-tier basis. Villa Maria produces wine styles that include

Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

, 'Bordeaux' varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec),

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

and

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

. Less common varietals produced are

Gewürztraminer Gewürztraminer () is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz (; although this is never the case in German, because "Gewürz" me ...

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

Viognier Viognier () is a white wine grape variety. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu in the Rhône Valley.J. Robinson ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 754 Oxford University Press 2006 Outside of the Rhôn ...

Verdelho Verdelho is a white wine grape grown throughout Portugal, though most associated with the island of Madeira, and also gives its name to one of the four main types of Madeira wine. At the turn of the 20th century it was the most widely planted whi ...

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse B ...

Grenache Grenache () or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditi ...

, Chenin blanc,

Albariño Alvarinho () or Albariño () is a variety of white wine grape grown in Northwest Portugal (Monção and Melgaço) and Galicia (northwest Spain) where it is also used to make varietal white wines. In Portugal it is known as Alvarinho, and some ...

and

Arneis Arneis is a white Italian wine grape variety originating from Piedmont, Italy. It is most commonly found in the hills of the Roero, northwest of Alba, where it is part of the white ''Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita'' (DOCG) win ...

Wineries

The Auckland vineyard was originally located at Kirkbride Road in Māngere Bridge. In 2000, George Fistonich purchased Waitomokia / Mount Gabriel, a nearby quarried volcanic site in

Māngere Māngere () or Mangere is one of the largest suburbs in Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south of ...

. The vineyard and packaging facilities opened on the site in 2005.

Awards

Villa Maria Estate was named the supreme winner at the New Zealand Sustainable Business Network Awards in November 2012.

References

{{Reflist Wineries of New Zealand Croatian-New Zealand culture New Zealand brands Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Area