Discover North Canterbury – New Zealand's hidden gem

Marlborough might get the column inches and Central Otago the glamour, but if you want to find New Zealand’s most intellectually compelling wines right now, look to a cluster of wineries tucked into the rolling hill country north of Christchurch.

North Canterbury – or more specifically the Waipara Valley and its inland reaches around Waikari and Weka Pass – is producing wines of genuine complexity and age-worthiness.

They’re driven by an intricate tapestry of gravel, clay and limestone soils; a climate that is as demanding as it is beneficial; and a community of producers whose innovative mindsets are rooted in a deep commitment to their place.

Getting started

The North Canterbury wine-growing region spans nearly 200km of the South Island’s eastern coastline, from the Canterbury Plains surrounding Christchurch northward to the Waipara Valley.

The region’s earliest vines were planted by French settlers at Banks Peninsula in the 1840s but there was little real progress until the modern industry took shape from the 1970s onwards.

This was largely driven by Czech immigrant and vigneron Danny Schuster and Dr David Jackson of Lincoln University.

Early commercial vineyards clustered around Banks Peninsula and the Canterbury Plains.

St Helena, established near Christchurch in 1978, was the first commercial winery. It won gold medals for its Pinot Noir in 1982 and 1984.

But the centre of gravity shifted north as the Canterbury Plains’ flat, free-draining alluvial gravels gave way to the sloping, complex terrains of Waipara, whose foothills provide protection from incoming Southern Ocean-driven weather systems.

Today, Waipara and its surrounds account for the overwhelming majority of the region’s 1,501ha under vine.

Down to earth

Inland and westward of Waipara, around Waikari and Weka Pass, are where things get especially interesting; though the higher elevation, cooler, more marginal farming conditions mean thus far just a handful of vineyards have been established.

Here, amid the rolling hill country are seams of limestone, a rare commodity in New Zealand viticulture, where greywacke sandstone dominates.

Bell Hill, established in 1997 on an old limestone quarry, and Pyramid Valley, planted in 2000 on a limestone-clay natural amphitheatre nearby, were among the first to exploit this geology.

Both remain reference points for what the region can achieve.

Pyramid Valley’s winemaker Huw Kinch notes: ‘We generally pick one to two weeks later up here. Waipara wines are generally a little richer due to the comparatively warmer climate, whereas Waikari are a little finer-boned with a higher acidity and more tension.’

That spine of bright acidity running through the wines regardless of variety, is one of the region’s most consistent calling cards.

In Waipara, James Opie, who started Bryterlater Wines in 2019, focusing on pét-nat and natural wine styles, observes: ‘We see the nuances of the soils are expressed in very different ways in our wines. On the alluvial gravels there’s soulful darker tones, while on the clays you achieve bright, mouth-filling silkiness.’

Unique character

North Canterbury’s climate is cool, sunny and dry with a long, slow ripening season and typically warm, settled autumns, which allow extended hang time.

Yet it’s not always a benign environment. Late spring and autumn frosts, plus frequent strong winds can test both vines and growers, and significantly affect yields.

Dom Maxwell of Forager Wines explains that Waipara, ‘gets lots of fruit but not fruitiness as such. There’s a characteristic savoury, herbal thread and an earthy minerality that comes through regardless of who produced the wine.’

Vic Tutton of The Boneline thinks Waipara Pinot Noirs are most comparable to Martinborough: ‘Full, lush, deep fruit while savoury and structured.’

Black Estate’s Pen Naish agrees. ‘The Pinot Noir is often more earthy and structured than other regions and the Chardonnay has wonderful focus and texture from such cool nights and low yields.’

These are wines with genuine cellaring potential, though almost all drink beautifully young.

Variety show

There are 24 varieties planted throughout the region, though Pinot Noir and Chardonnay attract the most attention.

Riesling has long been a strength, producing styles from steely to dessert sweetness with equal authority and age-worthiness.

The possibilities across the myriad microclimate and soil combinations means you can also be surprised with excellent examples of Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Chenin Blanc or pét-nat.

Perhaps more surprisingly, given how few examples grace retailers’ shelves, North Canterbury’s most planted variety is Sauvignon Blanc, a statistic that slightly misrepresents the region's character.

Much of that fruit, along with significant volumes of Pinot Gris and Riesling, is sold to larger Marlborough-based companies and travels north to be blended away.

What is typically seen under a North Canterbury label then is the output of its small, intensely focused independent estates.

Creative wines

Ed Donaldson of Pegasus Bay – which has just harvested its 35th vintage – notes that North Canterbury ‘is not a region for producing large volumes of inexpensive wine’, and that this constraint ‘fosters a certain level of creativity rather than a more generic product’.

That creativity is visible everywhere. From Greystone’s pioneering high-trellising systems and vineyard-fermented Pinot Noirs, to the recent proliferation of younger natural-wine focused labels buying fruit and making small batches.

Waipara’s proximity to Christchurch, New Zealand’s second largest city, means there is a vibrant cellar door scene, including Black Estate, home to one of the country’s best winery restaurants.

Meanwhile, at Bell Hill, Marcel Giesen and Sherwyn Veldhuizen farm their tiny, isolated limestone quarry vineyard with almost monastic devotion.

A chorus of approval

Each makes a distinct case for what North Canterbury is capable of.

Tutton believes: ‘Waipara has really found its voice over the last 10 years and it’s a choir – many individual expressions of site, soil, microclimates, wine-growing philosophy, varieties, clones, own-rooted, grafted, aged and gnarly to just-planted vineyards, let alone what happens in the wineries – just a huge range of philosophy and practice.’

It is Giesen, perhaps, who best articulates the particular calling of making wine here.

His family were among the earliest to establish vines in Canterbury, and after nearly three decades at Bell Hill’s singular site, he says: ‘How close to the edge do you go, to see how deep the abyss is, and what is down there? We have found a great spot, right on the edge, looking down. It is not for everyone but it is compelling… An energy, and a commitment.’

That commitment – to sometimes difficult sites and unpredictable weather, to tiny yields, to minimal intervention – has created a long view that unites an otherwise eclectic community.

This is, ultimately, a region that rewards curiosity over convenience, for these are not wines that arrived at quality accidentally. Seek them out.

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