
WAIPARA WEST, an award winning winery with a geographically correct name but actually called after our weather station, is situated on sunny stony north facing terraces along the Waipara River some seven miles inland from the Pacific Ocean and nestling in the foothills of the Southern Alps, Canterbury, New Zealand.
GROUPEMENT DE CHAMPAGNES DE PROPRIETAIRES COLLECTANTS, a general partnership between family owned champagne houses has been in business for 24 years. Based in ROMERY, it specializes in the wholesale trade of Family Champagne Houses (business-to-business trade).
WAIPARA WEST: We purchased Waipara West in 1989 knowing that, although it was an unsuccessful rabbit infested, sheep farm, it had a combination of factors suitable for the production of quality grapes. Being further inland and higher than existing Waipara vineyards, it was hotter and less frost prone due to natural air movement caused by the river and the sloping terraces. Only then did we realise that the farm had been previously owned by our family some hundred years before.
GROUPEMENT DE CHAMPAGNES DE PROPRIETAIRES COLLECTANTS: The group of champagne growers was founded in 1998 by Michel Tribaut in partnership with the General Union of wine growers of Champagne. We started with 13 Wine Growers and now has 55 members welling over one million bottles. Only the champnages of estates across the champnage territory are in the group.
Waipara West & Groupement de Champagnes de Proprietaires Recolants Catalogue

A complex and textural wine from the gravels of our Waipara riverside home - dense with flavours of summer, fresh citrus, tangerine zest, granny smith and wet river gravels. The palate has silky texture that is balanced by the refreshing acid backbone and cleansing tannins. Flavours follow through from the nose, Kaffir lime, Meyer lemon, crunchy stone fruits and underlying tropical flavours. 66% of the final wine is vinified in stainless steel tanks, to preserve the crisp fruit profile and to protect the distinctive thiols of our Sauvignon Blanc. The remaining 33% of the wine is fermented with high solids, with wild yeast in old French oak. This brings in the complexity of texture and minerality to the final wine. After three months maceration on lees all components were blended and stabilized in early spring

Pale barley straw in colour with vibrant yellow, silver and green hues. This wine gives off sense of tension and youth. Aromas of lime leaf, blossom and fruit are so pure and inviting. As it evolves in the glass it reveals subtleties like dusty dry herbs, juniper and gravel. The taste is reminiscent of a perfect Mandarin, so bursting with sweet flavour the acid provides direction and pithy phenolics provide a lingering dry mouthfeel.

Crimson and pink flashes against a plummy red base. Aromatics of currant pastries, woody spice’s, and manuka leaf, leading to notes of forest undergrowth and florals. Moderate fruit sweetness, fine tannin and restrained volume allow savoury elements to splice evenly into the tart red fruit. A very enjoyable aromatic pinot noir, with good fruit density. All the grapes are estate grown and in the final year of organic conversion. All our Pinot Noir is hand harvested and sorted in the vineyard. We pick each clone separately, and they stay separate until final blending. Once at the winery, the fruit is gently destemmed into cuvee except 15%, which was kept whole bunch and went through carbonic maceration. There was a mixture of wild and organically cultured yeast used in this wine. The ferments are managed with gentle punch down by hand or short pump overs depending on the daily needs of the ferment and how the batches are tasting. The length of time in cuvee is between 14- 21 days. We press off to tank and rack to French oak (6% New) taking only fine lees. The wine is overwintered at 12 degrees and is warmed up in spring for a spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The barrels are racked, and the wine put together in late Feb (10 Months in barrel) and it is allowed to develop in stainless steel tank for the next 6 months before being lightly filtered before bottling. This wine is unfined.

Dark plum in colour with hues of crimson and red rose. Blackcurrant and red liquorice on the nose, with notes of star anise, cinnamon, and toasted almond. A coastal influence gives freshness. In the mouth, sweet juicy plums with crunchy acidity and chewy tannins. Lasting flavours of toffee apple and blueberry on the finish. Lovely. Our Cabernet Franc vines are always the last to be picked, (alongside our Cabernet Sauvignon). For perfect ripeness, they require a longer hang time when the season allows this and patience on our part. We began handpicking the 2018 fruit on the first day of May starting with the grafted portion of the vines (fermented separately with wild yeast), followed the next day with the non-grafted (split into two vessels and inoculated with two different yeast strains). The winemaking approach is clean and precise. Malolactic fermentation was encouraged to start during a hot primary fermentation and finish during a long and warm post-ferment maceration. The wines were then pressed and left to settle before being racked into a mix of French coopered barrels (25% new). The batches were kept separate through two rounds of rack and returning over winter and spring before being put together for a final stretch of maturation through summer. In early autumn the barrels were racked to tank, lightly fined and course filtered before bottling.

Location: Commune of Passy sur Marne, small village in the Marne Valley Terroir: A chalky base, a clay limestone layer covers this base. Wealth of mineral Principles Grapes: 33% Pinot Noir 33 % Chardonnay 34% Pinot Meunier Winemaking: Pure Champagne tradition preservation of bottles in cellar 2 years before disgorgement

Location: Commune of Passy sur Marne, small village in the Marne Valley Terroir: A chalky base, a clay limestone layer covers this base. Wealth of mineral principles Grapes: 50 % Pinot Noir 50 % Chardonnay Winemaking: Pure Champagne tradition preservation of bottles in cellar 3 years before disgorgement

2/3 Vinified in oak barrels and raised in these same futs for 10 months having already been used 1 to 2 years by our fellow Burgundians from Meursault, Puligny Montrachet and Chassagne Montrachet, 1/3 vinified and aged in a thermoregulated stainless steel vat. A blend of wines from these two methods of winemaking of all proportions kept. Malolactic fermentation.

2/3 vinified in oak barrels and raised in these same drums for 10 months having already been used 1 to 2 years by our confreres Burgundians from Meursault, Puligny Montrachet and Chassagne Montrachet), 1/3 vinified and raised in thermoregulated stainless steel tanks. Assembling of wines from these 2 methods of vinification all proportions kept. Malolactic fermentation.