Muddy Water > Waipara

Situated in the Waipara area of North Canterbury, New Zealand, Muddy Water is a direct translation from the Maori place name - wai (water) para (sediment, mud).

Just as the name reflects the place, the wines reflect the vineyards. They are situated on sunny slopes above the Waipara Valley in North Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand. Protected from cool sea breezes by a range of coastal hills, the Waipara area has a climate distinct from the rest of Canterbury.

Cold, frosty winters, warm dry summers and dry sunny autumns provide intensely flavored ripe grapes. The soils are loam over calcarious clay on limestone bedrock, ideal for growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, mirroring the Burgundian soils that are the natural home of these great varieties. Muddy Water grows Pinot Noir, Pinotage, Syrah, Riesling and Chardonnay.

Accredited by NZ Sustainable Winegrowing.

Muddy Water is the dream of owners Michael and Jane East, who purchased the property in 1993. The first wines were produced in 1997.

Winemaker Belinda Gould is a viticulturist first and winemaking "just follows on". When Belinda left Lincoln University with her Diploma of Horticulture in 1979 she had already decided that grapes were an ideal crop for her "native" Waipara and she needed to know more. Belinda spent 2 years as a guest student at the Geisenheim viticulture school in Germany, with Professor Helmut Becker, before returning to New Zealand to work with Dr Richard Smart (the grape canopy guru) at Ruakura.

After some time away she returned to the wine industry in 1993 as assistant winemaker at Waipara Springs. A growing love of Pinot Noir took her to California for the 1996 harvest at Calera Wine Co. She then went on to Oregon where she worked the Pinot harvest at Cristom Vineyards. After returning to NZ, Belinda was offered the winemaker's position at Calera - so it was back to California for another 3 years. A family decision that Waipara, NZ was the place to live coincided with a job offer as winemaker/viticulturist for Muddy Water when the winery was built in 2000. Belinda has maintained her Californian connection and she was back in the Russian River area for the 2000 and 2001 harvests working on a Pinot Noir experimental project for Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards. Muddy Water's needs and vineyard have grown and Belinda is now "full-time" in the winery and vineyard, although she does have plans for more overseas harvests in the future.

Muddy Water Website

Pinot Noir

Focused and elegant, the Muddy Water Pinot Noir is beautifully balanced and has a bouquet of black cherries with savory notes. The palate, too, shows dark cherries and red fruit, and would marry well with lamb and game.

Cold soaked pre-fermentation for up to 6 days, native yeasts, manual cap management, 11 -20 days on skins. After pressing, wine was racked to oak barrels & aged with full malolactic for 15 months before racking, blending and bottling.

Received 92 Points at the NZ Wine Fair in Sydney

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