Winery dream comes to fruition
Martinborough may soon have competition as South Wairarapa’s premier wine destination as its northern neighbour gets its own winery.
It’s been three years in the making but today winemaker Jane Cooper and partner Lesley Reidy are opening Alexia – New Zealand’s first purpose-built urban winery – onWest St.
The pair had wanted to open a winery in Greytown for years but had to wait to find a perfect location.
One day while out on a bike ride, Cooper came across a small piece of land tucked in behind the main road she thought would be perfect.
‘‘It was completely overgrown, with a massive derelict tin shed and piles of rubbish everywhere but I knew straight away I’d found a home for Alexia.’’
While there were other urban wineries in the country, Alexia was the first to be purpose-built from the ground up, and the couple will do everything themselves – from crushing the grapes to bottling the wine.
‘‘People won’t have to go to Martinborough to get that wine experience,’’ Cooper said.
Reidy, who will be managing the cellar door and taking care of marketing, said the cellar door
would be a chance to showcase not only the wines but how they were made.
‘‘It’s going to be a different experience for people to do while they are in Greytown,’’ Reidy said.
Cooper has been producing wine under the Alexia brand – named for her grandmother – for 20 years. After managing and making wine for large vineyards, as well as being an international wine judge, this was a project Cooper had wanted to get her teeth into for a long time.
‘‘I’ve been making wine for 28
years but I really believe that now we are here my best wines are still to come.’’
Charlotte Read, of the New Zealand Winegrowers, said the emergence of urban wineries in this country was exciting.
‘‘They make it easy for city dwellers to have an authentic winery visitor experience and have the potential to attract new wine lovers to the wine category.’’
Other urban wineries in New Zealand include Urbn Vino Dunedin, Wild Wines from Wild Workshop in Wellington, and The Urban Winery in Napier.