The journey of our wine begins long before you are seated at @amisfieldrestaurant. In fact, our fruit begins its dance to bottle about 35km away, at our single-estate organic vineyard, nestled into the foot of majestic Mount Pisa. Our dedication to organics, paired with mutual respect for the land, yields fruit of the highest quality and flavour, allowing us to capture the true essence of our place year after year. Carrying this ethos from our glacially sculpted vineyard into the Amisfield kitchen; @chefvaughanmabee creates dishes that proudly showcase respect for where our ingredients are gathered and how this helps exude flavour, innovation, and creativity in every dish the restaurant serves. We are proud to say that our terroir-driven wine and food are distinctly of this land.

Harvest for our 2023 vintage begun at Amisfield last week, and we have been out picking Pinot Noir grapes that will become the base of our Brut Methode Traditionelle 2023. The fruit used in our Brut base is picked significantly earlier than the fruit that goes into our regular Pinot Noir, as at this stage in the ripening process, fruit acidity levels are higher and sugar levels lower. This gives our Brut the dry, bright and vibrant profile that it’s renowned for. You won’t see this wine on the shelves until 2026, but the process starts right now thanks to our incredible team 🍇🥂 #Vintage2023

Our award-winning stone building, nestled into colourful shore of Lake Hayes, is home to @amisfieldrestaurant and Cellar Door. Join us for a wine tasting and learn about the delicate art of making and tasting our wines and how their carefully curated reputations are intrinsically tied to each. We also offer bespoke tastings - let our team take you on a journey through our library wines in a comprehensive and private bespoke tasting. Our Cellar Door is open 10am until 6pm, 7 days. Bookings essential for Bespoke tastings, and groups over seven. *Please note, in line with trading requirements in New Zealand our Cellar Door will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday 2023. The restaurant will be operating as normal*

: ”It’s early morning and extreme jet lag gets overpowered by the view. I stand at the foot of the cinematically imposing Pisa Mountain range in one of New Zealand’s most breathtaking wine regions, as I enter Amisfield Winery – a 35-year-old single estate that specializes in silky and complex, pioneering Pinot Noirs. It feels like I’m in Gondor – in the land of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and am meeting close to the entire team of the winery to dive into their world and discover the lands, the grapes, the methods and the true philosophy of these New World wines, and as they explain, it all starts with the seasons.” So begins the first piece from my hand in more than two years, with the last being “Paco Morales: Chef of History”, mapping out the ancient and yet very modern culinary DNA of the complex Andalusian star chef. This time, however, I find myself with an awe-inspiring view and a couple of squeezed grapes in my hand, sucking nature in at the very bottom of Earth where you find the organic single-estate winery, Amisfield. Once a sheep station, today 92 hectares of devotion and love for wine making. Amisfield is a personal expression of a territory, a grape, a philosophy and a series of common values that shine through from the first tender bud to the final harvest to each glass of mostly Pinot Noirs, produced by passionate people with a lot of perseverance. We are so used to connecting chefs to their dishes but when it comes to wines, we forget that that liquid is the result of a very personal journey for often a large group of people. In the case of Amisfield, it truly is the reflection of their passion and hard work combined with the reflection of their homeland. From the first tender bud to the final harvest, each glass has a little bit of New Zealand, of Central Otago, of Sam, André, Ben and everyone involved in the process. “Amisfield: The Pioneering Pinot Noir of Central Otago” published by US-media Honest Cooking. Please find a link to the article in my bio. If you like wine and adventure as much as I do, then this might also be your flavor. NB. I am originally a sommelier by profession. Visuals in photo slide. @amisfieldvineyard

The Amisfield team are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded "Sustainable Vineyard of the Year" at the 2023 Aotearoa Organic Wine Awards! This remarkable achievement reflects our commitment to sustainable practices and preservation of our beautiful environment. We take immense pride in our organic certification by BioGro NZ and accreditation with Sustainable Winegrowers New Zealand (SWNZ), which ensures that every aspect of our vineyard adheres to strict organic standards. By nurturing our land and respecting its natural rhythms, we can produce wines that truly reflect the purity and authenticity of Central Otago. From our vineyard to the cellar door, here's to a sustainable future and many more incredible vintages to come! Thank you for joining us on this remarkable journey 🥂

Meet one of the backbones of our winemaking legacy, Vineyard Manager André Lategan. With unwavering dedication, André has nurtured our vineyards at Amisfield for over two decades. His deep connection to the land and meticulous approach to organics has paved the way of many of our sustainability initiatives, such as the mid-row irrigation and wetland projects. Found usually with Dumela his loyal Border Collie in tow, André is one of our many talented team members that ensure only the finest grapes grace our wines. From the first tender bud to the final harvest, their commitment and expertise is what makes our Amisfield wines truly exceptional.

: Impressions from harvest @ Amisfield Winery in Central Otago, New Zealand. One hour away from the Amisfield’s restaurant, guarded by the dramatic and imposing Pisa mountain range, you find the Amisfield vineyards and its winery, a 35-year old project that specialises in superb Pinot Noirs. Not nearly as old as the legacy and traditional wineries from Europe, but determined to make amazing juices that reflect their terroir and that translate Central Otago, a spectacular wine region of New Zealand, into the glass. The land is hard here and the people are clearly pioneers. They were hardy and determined to make it work. Imagine when their ancestors came and found this land. They found nothing and built a nation out of nothing and that hardiness continues through their personalities today, into their determination for working the land and definitely through their wines. Here, the values and philosophy of connecting to nature are as important as in Amisfield’s restaurant. A winery that elaborates amazing new world wines and embraces hyper seasonality to produce around 35,000 cases every year. Quality over quantity – always. Their magnificent Pinot Noirs account for over 60% of the production – the rest comes from Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling & Chenin Blanc, all done with as minimal intervention as possible and with organic certification. Sam Davies, the chief winemaker at Amisfield conveys that being a young winemaking country has been a good thing for them. They have less regulations, traditions and restrictions that limit their creativity and ability to use different methods or techniques. Whilst tradition is fantastic in wine making, it’s not good if it becomes stifling or limits what they can achieve and this is exactly where the winery and Vaughan Mabee’s kitchen at Amisfield's restaurant cross paths. Mabee also feels this same freedom from coming from a place that still has a long path ahead in terms of culinary culture. ”It opens the box for us in the kitchen and for them in the winery, to be open minded and to actually create an elaborated Kiwi-food culture and wine scene”, he ends. View a short film in my stories. @amisfieldvineyard

This harvest has been a game of stop and start, but they say good things come to those who wait! Several March/April rain and frost fighting events, followed by darker mornings and waiting for fruits to ripen hampered the efforts of our staff to get truly stuck into harvesting, but it appears things are on the up. Our team are now working across the estate, with picking for Brut, Rosé, RKV, and Chardonnay now complete. With approximately two-thirds of the vineyard now harvested, the winery is in full production mode as they process the fruit. Sunshine is predicted for the rest of the week and we will be focusing our efforts on a number of our white varietals, plus a little more Pinot Noir to conclude vintage. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks for some winery action, as we take the freshly picked grapes and begin the fermentation process.

Harvest time is steadily approaching, and the nets are being rolled out across the vineyard. It’s a BIG job for our team, with 92 hectares to cover, but one that’s essential in order to protect the crop from hungry birds. As the grapes ripen, and go through veraison, their sugar content increases and makes them irresistible to birds. So, to discourage our feathered friends from pecking away the crop, we deploy nets to keep them off the vines alongside sonic bird control devices. As time consuming as laying nets are, they are vital to ensuring a bountiful harvest.

NEW RELEASE // AMISFIELD FUMÉ SAUVIGNON BLANC 2020 AND PINOT GRIS 2022. We’ve been holding this one close, waiting for the perfect moment to announce that our new vintage Pinot Gris and Fumé Sauvignon Blanc is here. The Pinot Gris focuses on the tastes of Central Otago and offers fresh juicy nashi pear with red apple notes matched with spice, mineral tones, depth, fine acidity and a gentle sweetness. Crowd favourite, Fumé Sauvignon Blanc, exhibits all the fascinating characteristics of wild fermentation with our vineyard specific indigenous yeasts. Ripe apricot, nectarine and pineapple lead to a rich, creamy and yet supple texture with manuka smoke, guava and a flinty, toasty complexity. Australia and USA fans - don’t worry if you can’t find it online just yet. These wines shall be arriving at our warehouses shortly. Sign up to our database to keep up to date.

Grow, grow, grow! With most of the seasonal festivities having passed and the weather being stable, sunny and hot over this period at the vineyard, we’ve been delighted to see immense growth in all of the fruit sets. These grapes are Pinot Noir variety from Block 5, and in the coming weeks will begin the process of vérasion - the most beautiful time in the vineyard as the berries change colours from a vegetal green to yellow, pink, red or purple. Vérasion also means that the fruit becomes a tasty snack for birds, so from February 7 we will be placing our nets over the canopy to protect the fruit.

As the sun begins to set on 2022, we’ve been reflecting on the year that was. Leaving a warm end to 2021, we were lucky to head back to the seasonal averages by mid-January. The canopy growth slowed, and the vines focused their energy on ripening a much larger and high-quality crop than the year prior. Our pruning season began with weekly rainfall events that slowed our progress, the usual Pisa blanket of fog that fills the valley floor through June didn’t occur, much to the happiness of our hardy winter pruning staff. Spring started with a flush of growth allowing strong shoots and flowers on the vines, and we’re happy this is putting us in a great spot heading into 2023. 2022 saw us release the following vintages wines; Amisfield Rose, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris, each receiving some fantastic reviews. We can’t wait to see what the new year has in store for us. From us to you, we wish you a fantastic start to 2023. - Team Amisfield