In 2016 we commemorated 20 years of Marlborough's Huia Vineyards by working with celebrated New Zealand photographer Dr Fiona Pardington (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe and Ngāti Kahungunu), Chevalier de l'Ordre Française des Arts et des Lettres, as she created an original work of a pair of Huia, an extinct native bird of Aotearoa New Zealand, to be used on limited edition magnums of Huia Millennial Brut 2000.

Appellation Marlborough Wine — What does that actually even mean? As it turns out, it means a great deal to us at Huia Vineyards.

At Huia, our main focus right now is harvesting the few rows of grapes we have outside the front door but when it rains it pours and the walnuts and figs are ready now too. Busy times and to make the most of the autumnal deliverance, I needed a recipe ASAP so nothing goes to waste…

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. MANA Winegrowers is a collective of Marlborough organic winemakers determined to go far together.

Izzy started in the wine business in 1996 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She began selling Huia in 2000 initially at the distributor level, then Izzy worked for the importer that used to bring our wines into the US.

Claire and Mike have long been flying the flag in the UK themselves but the need to be in the market more frequently was obvious and the need to get a new team member was clear.

To celebrate the long-time partnership of Huia Vineyards and New Zealand fashion designer Kate Sylvester, we popped our first ever sparkling Rosé, the 2016 Limited Edition Estate Grown Sparkling Rosé Brut into a delicate modernist rose print from designer Kate Sylvester’s collection “Frances”.

It was seven years ago that iconic New Zealand fashion house Kate Sylvester started pouring our organic wines crafted by Huia for their guests. Designer Kate sat down with Winemaker Claire over a glass or two at Seabreeze Café, Kate’s local, to talk about why their brands are working together and how this relationship came about.