Bannockburn. The area is of proven quality and we are extremely excited at having another top end vineyard site along side our friends and neighbours at Felton Rd Winery and Mt Difficulty.

The soils have some variance within the site however are predominantly a dense clay loam over gravels with the variance across the site being in the seams of calcium carbonate that run across the vineyard and the amount of clay that overrides this seam and the gravels beneath. The vineyard faces north west and is gently sloping.

We would expect this clay to have excellent water holding capacity and reduce the need overall for irrigation soon after planting.

As of mid 2010 we have 5.5 ha total planted area comprised of 1 ha of Clone 6 pinot noir, 2 ha Pommard clone,  1.5 ha clone Abel and 1 ha clone 10/5.  Not to forget Muirkirk’s“roots” totally we have retained 2 ha of the original cherry orchard   – which at the very least means cherries galore for all at christmas.

Elevation is around 250m, GDD ave approx 1150 and rainfall approx 400mm per annum.

Real time weather data for our Muirkirk vineyard can be accessed on www.harvestnz.com