Craggy Range Vineyards

Dirt and Rocks... the Soul of Great Wine.   09/04/2015 | by Steve Smith

2015 is the International Year of Soils as declared by the 68th UN General Assembly to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of soil for food security and essential ecosystems functions.

At Craggy Range we revere the impact of soils in our wines and do everything we can in the vineyard to ensure the health of the soil can contribute to the character of the wine. Every vineyard has a permanent diverse sward grown between the rows, sometimes alternated with rows of cereals, mustard, alyssum, phaecelia or buckwheat to build organic matter, improve soil biology or provide nectar for beneficial insects.

The story of Craggy Range began with the desire to create a legacy. What happened next, surpassed even the expectations of the family who started it.

When Terry Peabody arrived home from a four-week business trip in the fall of 1993 his wife Mary, and daughter Mary-Jeanne, cooked him dinner. The meal was long and leisurely, but not without purpose. Terry wasn't allowed to leave until he had agreed to go into the wine business. The specification was that the business must never be sold. It was to be a family business, an enduring heritage legacy. To recognise this commitment, a trust would be established to ensure the business would prevail for 1000 years.  

That night, Terry made a commitment to the most important people in his life, and he intended to honour it. The search for a winery began traditionally enough - in France and America, spreading then to Australia.

The Peabodys have a strong background in the hospitality industry owning both fine dining and bistro restaurants in Australia and North America. For more than a decade from 1986 they owned and managed the Fountain Room in Brisbane, one of Australia's premier fine dining restaurants. Its wine list - local and international - was legendary. With their restaurant hospitality credentials established, the desire for creating a wine business was a natural progression. 

But it was a meeting in Paris with Baron Eric Rothschild - of Chateau Lafite renown - that proved to be the defining moment for Mary and Terry. They had a question for the patriarch of the famous French house. If Eric was expanding his empire, where would he establish his new world winery? "New Zealand," Eric answered. 

It was a long play, but if Terry and Mary wanted to create a dynasty, an inter-generational wine house, Eric's advice was to look to the southern hemisphere and the new world of wine in New Zealand. And so it was that which brought Terry and Mary to the edge of the world, to Aotearoa: a land of mountains, fire and ice - geographically the youngest country in the world - situated in the sweet latitudes for winegrowing.  

Terry and Steve looked for land and pinpointed some special places. Gimblett Gravels in the Hawke's Bay on the east coast of New Zealand was an area with the perfect growing conditions for Bordeaux reds and particularly Syrah. The spectacularly beautiful Tukituki valley had the soil for Chardonnay and would be the ideal home base from which to build a new kind of winery.

A further search began for a vineyard that could produce a unique expression of the two varieties the world has come to know New Zealand for, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Their tireless search led them to Martinborough and more particularly, a spectactular piece of farmland in Te Muna Road. It offered two distinct terraces, the higher comprising very old, stony clay infused soils perfect for Pinot Noir and the lower terrace of younger stony soils interleaved with limestone - providing an excellent environment for Sauvignon Blanc. 

The founders of Craggy Range made a bold decision from the beginning - to pursue the Single Vineyard Philosophy of winemaking, with the ambition to produce not just the greatest wine New Zealand makes, but the greatest wines the world makes.

The thinking behind producing only single vineyard wines is that while every piece of land has potential, those with special soils and unique interactions with their meso-climate can produce wines with real character, quality and authority. The key is to find those special pieces of land.

'There is only one thing we ask of you and this is an open mind. Our wines and our ambitions are very different from what you might expect. This is a country of much more than vibrantly fruity affordable Sauvignon Blanc. We believe we produce some of the New World’s most inspiring fine wines, wines that are a true reflection of the place and people. We also believe these wines represent some of the best value fine wines in the world.’
~ Terry Peabody

Wine and Viticulture Director Steve Smith MW had a proven expertise in the selection of sites and the knowledge to produce wines with a unique sense of place. He gathered about him a group of people unafraid to break new ground, individuals who shared a spirit of restlessness and the desire to explore and constantly improve.

'Where to plant vines, choosing the clone and root stock, how to grow grapes, how to harvest them and how you’re going to make the wine - it’s a cultural thing that comes from experience and a link with an area. You need to have the right people. You need to have people with the right farming attitudes.'
~ Steve Smith MW

The pioneering attitude pervades the psyche - it partly explains how New Zealand has come from nowhere to somewhere in the world of wine in less than a generation.

It took almost 170 years for vines to truly become part of the culture and for New Zealanders to realise ‘our place’ had potential for creating wines that the world wanted to drink - many unlike any you have tried before.

When a ‘kiwi’ took the world's first internationally recognised Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough to London, they said he was mad. Then the wine that no one had ever heard of took out the public vote at the 1986 Sunday Times Wine Show and New Zealand became famous for its vibrantly fruity and affordable Sauvignon Blanc. Now new styles of kiwi reds are causing the world to think again.

New Zealanders are practical and intuitive farmers. They understand the land. Among the Maori (the native people of New Zealand), there is a belief that we are guardians of the land, descendants of the earth Mother (confusingly, called Papa) and the sky father, Rangi.

A lot of the fine-tuning is done by matching your farming practices to the year and not having a formula. There is no formula. There is experience, respect, and commitment to craft - absolutely meticulous craftsmanship - which is possibly another way of saying alchemy.

The Craggy Range wines, at first somewhat scene stealing, have refined over the years, developing a certain reserve, depth and maturity. Their ability to intrigue remains. The interest they exert lies in the restless nature of their makers and the qualities of the land itself.

Terry is Chairman and owner of the company, providing the direction, resources, business acumen and determination for growth. By any measure, East Coast American born Terry is one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs with his success in building waste management and transportation companies and business interests extending from the USA and Canada to Europe, Asia Australia and New Zealand.

As Founder of Transpacific Industries Ltd, he built a company with more than 115 sites in Australia and New Zealand and in excess of 7000 employees. He is also the Chairman and President of Pozzolanic Philippines, a Manila based company involved in fly ash waste management businesses. Terry is well known in Queensland business for his pioneering work with Pozzolanic and as a local manufacturer and distributor for Western Star trucks.

Through his development of Transpacific Industries Ltd, Terry has been a prime instigator on environmental protection in Australia, known for providing economically cost effective, more environmentally-sustainable services within the waste management industry.

As a person who has an appreciation for good food and wine, he was the majority shareholder in the landmark Brisbane restaurant 'The Fountain Room' (known as the company canteen to the employees of the day).

Craggy Range’s renowned, award-winning ‘Terrôir’ restaurant is one of Mary’s focuses. Mary Peabody has an extensive background in the hospitality business in Canada and Australia. Fine food and wine were very much a part of her upbringing in Pennsylvania, USA and that has continued. Terrôir was conceived as a beautiful setting in which to share with friends, family and fellow enthusiasts. The restaurant set among the vineyards and a magnificent scenic backdrop is renowned for several signature dishes that regulars will not allow to leave the menu – including wood-fired oven whole-roasted fish.  Mary’s innate taste and attention to quality ensures the best of wine, food and atmosphere and Terrôir regularly receives accolades from both domestic and international press.

The couple divide their time between Queensland, Australia, Havelock North, New Zealand and Whistler, Canada.