The waning crescent of the Huia harvest moon.

At Huia, we look skyward as often as we look at the world at our feet. Both offer natural wonder of course, but the connection between the two and how we make our wine is integral. Just as the ocean tides move with a lunar rhythm, so too does the fruit and wildlife within our vineyards. We get a kick out of that. It makes you feel really connected and harvest is a celebration of a whole year of moving to that rhythm.

If you had the chance to work a grape harvest you’ll know that one treat is munching on the odd bunch of delicious berries. While some varietals are better at being wine than table grapes but our old pal Sauvignon Blanc is one variety that is super tasty straight off the vine. Because we don’t spray any chemicals in our vineyards, the sneaky pluck of a juicy snack is AOK…although we have had smaller yields this year so we do need some of those berries to make it back to the cellar!

Sauvignon Blanc / almost ready and tasting delicious already!

Not quite this year! Winemaker Claire inspecting the young Syrah vines. Exciting to think that in a few years, we’ll be including another red in the Huia offering. (It takes up to 3 years to see a yield from newly planted vines so these guys are a little way off joining us for harvest.)

Pinot Noir / clone 115 very nearly ready to roll.

Chardonnay. One of our all time favourites and a wine we all tend to gravitate to when there’s a cheese platter on the table…or pasta, or risotto, or a handful of almonds…or just a really good tune on the spinner! Any excuse basically.

There’s a much repeated mantra of winemaking harvest and that is that it takes a lot of hot coffee and cold beer to make a great wine. At our place it’s more about restorative cups of tea and refreshingly chilled Almighty sparkling waters!

As we fall down the rabbit hole of harvest, we’ll try to keep you posted on what’s going on so keep your peepers peeled to our instagram account while we try to keep our peepers open over a few weeks of little sleep but lots of lovely winemaking!