Inseparable Huia

Feb 21

To commemorate 20 years of Marlborough's Huia Vineyards, celebrated New Zealand photographer Dr Fiona Pardington (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe and Ngāti Kahungunu), Chevalier de l'Ordre Française des Arts et des Lettres, has created an original work of a pair of Huia, an extinct native bird of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Huia mated for life, their distinct male and female beaks a result of their close cooperation without which they could not survive. Pardington uses this pair to represent the commitment of the growing and making of fine wines. Like Huia wines, Pardington's photographs are painstakingly created to emphasise their feeling of authenticity, place and the love of the maker.

Pardington has long been drawn to the beautiful Huia, driven to extinction by the demand for its feathers to decorate fashionable ladies' hats in the nineteenth century and the destruction of its ancient forest habitat. Now examples of the Huia can only be found stuffed in museums and no recording was ever made of their cadenced flute-like call. Pardington captures this poignancy in her photograph, giving them a moment's second chance of life, reminding us to treasure and protect the unique and precious..

Huia feathers were worn by Maori chiefs as symbols of wisdom, dignity and elegance, something that also characterises Pardington's photography. These are central values to Huia Vineyards as well: the wisdom that comes from many years making hand-crafted wine, the dignity of nurturing the land exclusively through biodynamic and organic practice, and the elegance of wines that speak only of the soil, water, air and geography they came from.

- Andrew Paul Wood

Huia chose two hero wines that should adorn this very special, limited edition label.

Inseparable Huia by Fiona Pardington Magnum - Huia Millennial Brut 2000

Inseparable Huia by Fiona Pardington 750ml - Huia Blanc de Blanc 2010