New Zealand is a cool-climate country — and the Waikato takes that to another level. Fewer sunshine hours, harder-won ripeness, and wines that hold their acid and freshness because of it.
On the flats beside the river run, a thin topsoil over free-draining pumice sand carries the red varieties — Merlot, with Cabernet Franc going in as the estate leans further toward its Rosé. On the hill, heavier clay loam grows Pinotage and a new block of Chardonnay coming into its first fruit.
The big body of water beside the vines moderates everything — the flats run a couple of degrees warmer than the slope, softening frost in the shoulder seasons. Morning fog lifts off the lake; the afternoon breeze pushes through and dries the canopy. The rest is hard work — opening the vines, stripping leaf for airflow, cropping low so every bunch ripens.
The estate vines here grow the Crossing Point range — Rosé, Chardonnay and "RED", all from Takapoto Estate soil. For the rest, Alex goes to the regions that do it best: Central Otago in the South Island for the flagship Pinot Noirs, Hawke's Bay for Chardonnay, and now Marlborough for the Sauvignon Blanc.
Winemaker Alex Coldicutt has worked these rows since he was at school — the same hands prune in winter and pick in autumn.
