Newdistillery breaking new ground
It could be said New Zealand’s alcohol business is taking a step forward with the the recent opening of Kiwi Spirits Distillery in Golden Bay.
Terry Knight with partner Rachel Raine are behind the new venture which has involved them in years of product research and development producing a unique range of small batch, handcrafted spirits including whiskey products.
Notable has been production of the first blue agave tequiliana spirit in the country, arguably too the first such venture outside of Mexico which is the reason Terry has made news there as well.
Tekiwi is his new product’s name, and no way you’ll find the word ‘tequila’ on any of the labels on the hand-blown bottles either. Just like sparkling wines cannot (under the Madrid Treaty 1891) be called Champagne if produced out of that region in France, so Mexican producers and successive governments there have long guarded their tequila name.
Terry and Rachel bought the 25 acre former winery opposite Motupipi School on Abel Tasman Drive after selling their Schnapp Dragon Village Distillery in Takaka township in 2016, and there’s no doubting the massive job they have taken on moving to their new site.
Their cellar door, distillery and packing shed along with big processing kitchen is functional, while it would be fair to say the rest of the place is work in progress, making my mind boggle at what ‘s involved to start a big brand distillery.
Out the back, piles of massive steel beams lay stacked ready to make a 400sq mwarehouse, while a team of guys use machinery to finish levelling between the poles of the 2500sq mshade house which will protect their up and coming tequiliana seedlings.
A huge apiary shed already built will handle honey production, another side of the operation, while staff in the potting shed are going for it, and on a limestone-outcrop studded terrace further up, a new house racing to completion is being built that will look down over it all.
Terry admits it’s all been a big learning curve; ‘‘After years in the industry doing research and development the main thing we’ve learnt is how not to do it. Selling our previous distillery [Schnapp Dragon in Takaka] means we’ve been able to start up entirely fresh with an entirely new product line.’’ are put into a variety of unique bottles.
It was back in September 2015 that they released their first run (300 bottles) of Tekiwi blue agave tequiliana spirit in hand blown Hoglund Art Glass bottles.
Each of those glass bottles was numbered, batch dated and personally signed by the glassblower before being filled with the tequila-style blue agave spirit (labelled Tekiwi Silver Cloud) and stopped with a locally turned manuka stopper. Tasting notes refer to an initial taste of fresh pear with a touch of spice which becomes crisp on the palate before rounding out to a full flavour of blue agave nectar and oak, leaving a long silky smooth finish.
Terry oozes enthusiasm for his project; ‘We make a tequila style spirit that tastes like the smoothest tequila you have ever tasted. We’re not copying the rest of the world, we are making a genuine blue agave spirit that’s grown and produced in Golden Bay, right down to the stopper!’’
For the last 18 years the plants he nurtured to his first harvest were all from blue agave plants grown at Hamama and Anatoki by early enthusiasts of the plant who put them in well over three decades ago.
These initial plants which matured were the embryo of the venture which enabled Terry to create his first batch of agave spirit which all got quickly sold.
His latest plantings (several thousand) at Motupipi have come off the original plants and supplemented with ones produced by tissue culture. planted by harvest harvested This business is not knew to Terry, he grew up in his parents pub ‘late licensed’ in Christchurch to stay open after normal 6pm closing.
He was part of the team who set up Awaroa Lodge and for many years he was the publican of the Globe Hotel at Waitapu.
Globally, tequila is huge business. Mexico’s biggest export market for tequila is to the United States, where it sold over 17 billion litres last year. Tequila consumption has been soaring there for years. Alcohol consumption trends too in this country certainly support Terry’s decision to specialise in spirits.
Last year saw a 5.1 per cent increase in alcohol sales to 474 million litres or around two standard drinks per person per day. Of all this, 73 million litres were spirits which was 5.7 per cent up on the previous year, compared to just 3.7 per cent for beer and 4.7 per cent for wine.
Part of this rise in spirits here has been attributed to the rise in tequila sales, just like in the US where it’s become very cool.
Says Terry; ‘‘We’re moving into new territory and trends for sure, but initial sales have been definitely encouraging.
‘‘A lot of people in the industry were unsure at our direction, but it’s a changing world. A lot of the old rules don’t really apply anymore’’. He knows his game plan. To create iconic quality kiwi products, or more bluntly, put the unique flavours of New Zealand into a bottle.
There’s obviously no shortage of energy with his new venture. And I predict within a few years a magnificent agave plantation will be one of the ‘must see’ sights (and shots) to be had in Golden Bay.