Wine The original Matua vineyard is now home to The Hunting Lodge wines.
The original Matua vineyard is now home to The Hunting Lodge wines.
What do you do after selling your company for a sum large enough to require Overseas Investment Office approval? After Brent and Denise Sutton sold their dairyprocessing company, Sutton Group, to French multinational Danone in 2014, they bought a waterfront residential property on Waiheke Island. Then, in 2016, they snapped up the vineyard and winery in Waimauku, West Auckland, that we all know as Matua Valley.
Established in 1974 by the Spence and Margan families, the Matua Valley property was sold to the Suttons by Treasury Wine Estates of Australia (it kept the name), which was keen to consolidate its New Zealand interests in Marlborough. The sale included a 6ha vineyard, substantial winery and the property’s original homestead, which was built as a weekend hunting retreat in 1868 and later converted into fine-dining restaurant The Hunting Lodge.
Today, visitors to the estate roam the vineyard, gardens and olive grove and eat at the cellar-door cafe or restaurant where chef Des Harris (formerly of Clooney) adopts a locally grown, seasonal, pastureto-plate approach. The immaculate wines are made on-site by Pete Turner, who previously supervised the production of Matua’s North Island wines.
The Hunting Lodge Waimauku Home Block Chardonnay 2017
How’s this for rare? Tightly structured and ageworthy, this classy wine was fermented and matured in a single French oak barrel. Bright, light yellow-green with a fragrant, inviting bouquet, it is full-bodied (13% alc/vol) with intense grapefruit and peach flavours, well-integrated oak, smoky notes adding complexity and a persistent finish. $55
The Hunting Lodge Waimauku Home Block Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc 2017
Promoted as “the savvy for chardonnay drinkers”, this youthful, wood-aged wine is fresh and complex with mouthfilling body (13% alc/vol), strong, ripe melon/lime flavours, a gentle seasoning of oak and obvious potential. The best drinking is from mid-2019. $33
The Hunting Lodge Gisborne Marsanne/ Viognier 2016
From two classic Rhône Valley varieties, this is a good buy. Fleshy and full-bodied (13% alc/vol), it has ripe stonefruit flavours, a subtle twist of oak, lively acidity and loads of current-drinking appeal. $25