Vinoptima

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 asp...

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 ne...

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.