Viticulture and Winemaking

The vineyard area is relatively small (about 12.5acres currently in vines) which enables meticulous care and attention to be given to the vines. Special attention is given to the pinot noir and chardonnay grapes which form the basis for the methode traditionelle sparkling wine.

Although some spraying is necessary for disease control this a strictly limited regime and carried out  in accordance with the best sustainable wine growing practice and strictly in accordance with NZ Winegrowers Institute requirements.

Much reliance is placed on careful canopy management as well as leaf and bunch thinning to air condition the fruit and to ensure a balance between canopy and crop for proper ripening with a uniformly high standard of fruit condition.

These principles apply equally to the still wine varieties as to the sparkling.

The viticulture is in the able hands of our experienced vineyard manager Jeff Cottle, and the winemaking is strictly supervised by our resident winemaker Sue Shotton. Sue sets meticulous standards of cleanliness and quality management throughout all stages of grape handling, winemaking and maturation.

PETROS Methode Traditionelle Sparkling

Our sparkling wine is all produced using the traditional double fermentation process developed in the Champagne region of France. The first fermentation is carried out in tanks in our winery at Golden Bay and takes place immediately after harvest and crushing and pressing of the grapes. Only light pressing is employed to ensure high quality juice. This is followed by a 9 month period of settling and maturation when the wine is transferred to Marlborough for the second fermentation in the bottles. An essential part of the bottle fermentation is aging on the lees which imparts the characteristic yeasty flavour to the wine. This is followed by removal of the dead yeast cells, a final dosage of grape sugar and final corking and labelling.
Golden Bay Wines PETROS methode traditionelle is bottle aged by this process for a minimum of 3 years before release for sale.