Vineyards
Omihi Hills
Reeces Rd, Omihi, Waipara North Canterbury; off State Highway 1 has soils that are predominately loess derived for the wind-blown glacial silt from the Canterbury plain, interspersed with lenses of limestone. The 10 acres vineyard was planted in 1986 with Pinot Noir grapes and has some of the oldest Pinot vines on in New Zealand.
Omihi Crossing
Omihi Road, Omihi, Waipara has similar soils to Omihi Hills in on western aspect, but has limestone-derived rendzina soils on its eastern half that have been compared to the Grand Cru soils of Gevrey Chambertin, Burgundy.
The Omihi Crossing vineyard was planted in 2000 with 3 year old grafted vines. Pinot Noir grows on 9 acres of the rendzina limestone eastern slopes and 8 acres of the upper loessial western slopes. The lower western slopes grow 8 acres of Riesling.
The Pinot vines are predominately five varieties of Dijon clones planted on rootstock and are now coming to maturity. The valley lies in the lee of the Teviot Hills which protects it from the cool easterly wind of Canterbury.