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Great wines start with great fruit. Spoonbill Wines are made with fruit from Rawiri Vineyard in Marlborough New Zealand.

The grapes for all the Spoonbill wines come from Rawiri Vineyard which is located on the hillside of the Omaka Valley (Southern Valleys) of Marlborough, New Zealand. Some of the fruit from Rawiri is sold to other quality wineries in the area. 



Rawiri is owned by Dave and his wife Chris Eatwell.  It is a total of 6.5 hectares (16 acres) with 5 hectares (12.5 acres) planted in vines.  4.2 hectares of Pinot noir and 0.8 hectares of Pinot gris.



The vineyard is on a steep hillside with the 3.2 hectares of Pinot Noir facing north and the Pinot Gris and 1 hectare of Pinot Noir facing northwest. The vines were planted in both 2001 and 2003 and are in a Burgundian style with 1.9 metres between rows and 1 metre between vines giving 5300 vines per hectare which is considerably higher than most of the local vineyards.  The distance between the rows is greater than normal Burgundy due to the access for equipment.



Cropping levels are closely monitored in order to keep the quality of the fruit high.  Depending on the season, weather etc, yields are kept to between 5 to 6 tonne per hectare, (2 to 2.4 ton per acre).  Fruit is dropped from the vines up to two times in order to maintain the crop levels desired.  Vines are leaf plucked (leaf removal) to aid in ripening.

 

Rawiri Vineyard is situated on a hillside in the Southern Valleys of Marlborough, New Zealand.

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