Fruits of labour on show as visitors set for summer return
Neil Hodgson speaks with Lars Jensen, co-owner of Te Mania Wines and Richmond Plains, about the upcoming cellar door season, the gorgeous wines 2022’s successful vintage and the changing approach to viticulture and winemaking in Aotearoa.
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Lars Jensen, co-owner of Te Mania Wines and Richmond Plains.
Te Mania Wines and Richmond Plains Wines in McShane Rd have opened their cellar door for the summer and released some tasty current vintage wines at the same time.
Co-owner Lars Jensen says they sold the winemaking assets of the business but still own the organic vineyard and brands. “We’re now having wine made for us under contract, it’s a trend that is increasing because it is very expensive to run a winery, a lot of essential equipment like presses are only used for a few weeks a year so it makes commercial sense to share winemaking facilities.
Lars told me that making great wine is about having excellent fruit so they concentrate on growing the very best organically produced fruit they can.
The exciting thing is that the wines that have been produced in recent vintages have been top quality, “like everyone we were impacted by weather events during the 2020 and 2021 vintages, we had everything from rain during flowering to hail however, while the crops were small, the fruit we did harvest was very good so we were able to make some great wines.
“The difficulty in selling wines in the overseas market was off-set to an extent by New Zealanders buying wine on-line during the lockdowns and the period after that when they couldn’t travel freely.”
For Te Mania and Richmond Plains the 2022 vintage was pretty good. “It was an early but relaxed harvest with good weather, we had an amazing autumn after an early scare in February with a couple of rain events but we are really happy with the harvest, in both quality and volume.”
With the 2022 wines safely tucked away, either in bottles for you and me to buy or resting gently in barrels before it is bottled in a few months, the tasting room at Te Mania and Richmond Plains is already getting busy.
“This location is a great destination with The Junction, The Chook Farm, Connings, The Grape Escape Cafe, Eyebright and other businesses very close by. People can come to McShane Road and have a great day out. Also having the Great Taste cycleway all the way from Nelson to here then on to Kaiteriteri means there’s something for everyone.”