The New Winemakers of Waiheke

Waiheke is one of our youngest wine growing areas with the first vines being planted there in 1978 by Kim and Jeanette Goldwater, however the region is fast making a name for itself internationally as one of our premier wine growing areas. Waiheke is recognised for growing some of our best Chardonnays, Syrahs and Bordeaux blends. The vineyards here are all quite small in comparison to other regions, creating small batches of wine, that only serve to make them more desirable because they are hard to get hold of.

There is a new generation of winemakers coming through on Waiheke making their mark – all with different paths, on different vineyards but they recognise the more they share, the better they will be in what is still a unique craft of winemaking. We talked to the ‘new’ winemakers of Waiheke, Daniel Struckman from Batch Winery, Sam Dunleavy from Te Motu Vineyard and Heinrich Storm from Goldie Estate about what inspires and motivates them, the challenges they face and what makes up a typical day of winemaking on Waiheke.