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History

Vinoptima winery is its owner's, Nick Nobilo's, ode to Gewurztraminer variety. He was the first winemaker in New Zealand to use French oak in red wine making, first in the country who used new oak in fermenting Chardonnay and first who produced commercial quantities Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer in New Zealand back in 1973.

Vinoptima is Latin for Best Wines and a desire to create truly exceptional Gewurztraminer wine has governed every aspect of the Vineyard’s development.

Vinoptima Estate is a fully integrated, self-contained vineyard and wine producing business dedicated to the production of a single commercial wine from grapes grown entirely on the Estate. No grapes are grown under contract for Vinoptima and no other winemaking or bottling is undertaken on behalf of third parties.

The Vinoptima Estate vineyard comprises 9.7 hectares divided into two blocks of roughly equal size. The original South block was planted in 2000 and the new North block was planted in 2007. The Vinoptima Estate vineyard is planted in 5 different clones of Gewurztraminer that Nick Nobilo has selected during more than 25 years work with the variety.

The company’s operations include grape growing, wine making, cellaring, bottling, marketing and selling ultra premium Gewurztraminer under the Vinoptima label.

The Vinoptima Estate is majority owned by Nick Nobilo who is also the managing director and winemaker.
Vinoptima Estate is situated on the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, 26 kilometers inland from Gisborne on Ngakoroa Road in Ormond, just off the main Gisborne to Opotiki road.

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Vineyards

At least one aspect of creating a world class estate was going to be easy - deciding on the vines. Vinoptima Estate was developed for one reason only - the making of great Gewurztraminer wines - so simply don’t plant anything else.

 

In 2000 the original South block was meticulously planted out using bud wood from special clones of Gewurztraminer that I had begun selecting and propagating more than 25 years earlier. Since then, as the new vines have started producing, I’ve painstakingly evaluated each of the clones at ripeness, fastidiously tasting the berries from hundreds of vines and marking out for special attention those vines that display the best varietal character.

 

This process has been replicated over several vintages, making selections from selections before taking bud wood from the best vines for further propagation and under-planting of the existing vines. It’s these new plantings that have subsequently gone on to produce the wines that consistently win international recognition.

 

To meet the growing demand and optimise all aspects of the winemaking process, additional vines were planted on the North block of the Vinoptima Estate in 2007. The newer block is characterised by near identical soil composition and structure and if anything, is slightly warmer and drier than the original block. The North block has also been planted with a range of premium Gewurztraminer clones.

 

The Vinoptima Estate is constantly evolving with vines and clones changing in the continuous pursuit of the world’s best Gewurztraminer.

Italian, Romeo Bragato, who convinced the industry to graft European vines onto American root stock in order to alleviate the devastating effects of Phylloxera, believed that “good wines are grown in the vineyard”, a philosophy subscribed to by Nick Nobilo. The birth of each new vintage begins, not with the harvest of the grapes, rather it is a continuous, cyclical process that reflects the growing conditions of the vines over a long period of time.

 

With the focus on sustainable vineyard management, we work as much as possible in synergy with nature to achieve the best fruit quality for each vintage. Chicory and fescue are grown between the rows as a natural method of reducing vigour in the vines through moisture competition. At the same time this encourages the vines to push their roots deeper in the alluvial soils.

 

The structure of the vines is carefully maintained during the growing season and the leaf to crop ratio kept in balance through a careful pruning regime. As a part of the vineyard strategy to deliver a low yield of high quality grapes, the vines are pruned back to just two canes instead of the traditional four.

 

During the growing season regular leaf analysis is carried out to ensure the correct balance of trace elements is always present in the vines.

 

After flowering the leaves are hand-plucked from around the bunches to maximise exposure to sunlight. In seasons where fruit set exceeds the desired level, ‘green harvesting’ of the immature bunches is carried out to reduce crop yield. When the bunches reach optimum ripeness they are carefully handpicked to avoid damage to the fruit and taken directly to the winery for processing.

 

Nick's philosophy of having empathy with the vines and working in harmony with nature is instilled in all who work on the Estate.

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Winemaking

Located in the middle of the vineyard is a new state-of-the-art purpose-built winery, integrating special Vinoptima-designed equipment to receive and process the hand-picked bunches.

 

The winery has been designed by Nick Nobilo with one objective in mind – producing the very best possible Gewurztraminer wine. Every vessel and piece of winemaking equipment has been specified, designed and installed to meet this single objective.

 

At the entry are two large custom-built stainless steel draining tanks that receive the grape must. Additional stainless steel tanks that receive the juice are arranged in an ‘amphitheatre’, to allow a single person to ‘conduct’ the entire winemaking process from a central position.

 

To one end of the winery are two racks of purpose-built 1200 litre German oak ovals, 24 in all. Whilst these ovals do not impart ‘oak flavour’ to the wine as most people think, they are used in the Vinoptima fermentation process and play a key role in flavour development and esterification of the wine.

 

The Vinoptima winery has been heralded as one of the best winery layouts in the world.

 

 

 

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