The landscape of Aotearoa is rich in natural resources, providing the ideal growing conditions for winemaking.
Our vineyards are situated at the top of the South Island in the Upper Awatere Valley, Marlborough and Upper Moutere, Nelson.
We have a rare combination of mineral rich soils and a coastal climate resulting in fertile lands.
True to our winemaking history, we are committed to growing exceptional grapes and exceptional wines.
A recent addition to our range of wines is Tutū, a hand crafted cider from single varietal Fuji apples grown in our Motueka orchards.
In Māori, being a ‘little Tutū’ is a colloquial term for being cheeky and mischievous.
Tutū cider is the younger sprightlier sibling of Kono’s beverage family. Made from 100% Nelson Fuji apples sun ripened on our ancestral lands in Nelson. They are pressed, brewed and bottled all in Nelson, using an old secret recipe. This 100% natural apple juice cider offers a fresh crisp fruit bouquet.
A kono is a basket woven out of harakeke (New Zealand flax) and was traditionally used by Māori to serve food in.
Kono wine is made from carefully selected vineyards in Marlborough and Nelson – New Zealand’s pre-eminent wine regions. The grapes are grown with soil knowledge and cultivation methods passed down from our Māori forbearers. This gift of knowledge and rich, unspoiled lands create wines of personality and purity.
Kono offers a Sauvignon Blanc that is currently popular in the United States, Australia and the Netherlands.
Our Tohu branding includes a number of elements that pay tribute to our culture and what we treasure as a Māori organization. These include traditional Māori art forms, genealogy and our land. The Koru or spiral symbolizes growth, life and the natural world.
Internationally acclaimed, our range of premium quality Tohu wines each reflects the strengths of the Awatere valley in Marlborough. Our winemaking philosophy is to create styles of wine that best reflect our sub-region, and captures the very essence of our Awatere Valley Vineyard. As New Zealand’s first Māori owned wine company in 1998, we have since developed a reputation for producing premium wine in a range of varieties with multiple accolades for our Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Methode Traditionnelle.
The word Aronui derives from ancient Māori mythology about the pursuit of knowledge, including the arts and working with the land in beneficial ways. Kōwhaiwhai is the ancient Māori tradition of painted pattern-making. These symmetrical designs decorate the rafters of the elaborately adorned and represent lineage, ancestry and the story of generations.
Like our landmark Tohu range, our winemaking philosophy with Aronui is to create a style of wine that best reflects its region. Our grapes are grown in Nelson’s Upper Moutere, one of New Zealand’s most exciting boutique wine regions. Whenua Matua means ‘significant land’, and significant it is. The vineyard is on tribal land and has remained in the ownership of its traditional owners- a place of historic importance and reverence. The region is composed of gentle rolling country with clay soils laced with layers of gravel. Heavier soils composed of clay are ideal for Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.
Quality Assured
Our winery, located in Marlborough’s Awatere Valley, is utilised to make both Tohu and Aronui wines with a consent to process 6000 tonnes of wine. Owning our own modern, fit-for-purpose facility enables our winemaker and his team complete control – optimising the quality of all of our wines.
Our philosophy is that wine should encapsulate a place and a time. As a product it doesn’t play by the same rules as mass-produced consumer goods, it varies from year to year, place to place.