Isn’t that more important than having an ordered shelf in your cellar?” This is inevitably met with much eye-rolling and muffled “whatever’s”. You know that wine is going to create memories and make an impression as soon as you open it. “Making our best wines only in the best years is a guarantee of quality. “We like to make it easy” I tell my foreign friends. “All the great producers in Bordeaux make their top wines each year regardless – why can’t you kiwis?” Having to constantly monitor which years were good or bad especially when you’re paying hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a bottle just seems like a huge pain in the jacksie. Serious collectors, (particularly from overseas) like to see unbroken lines and they just can’t get their heads around our attitude.

This insistence by producers of New Zealand’s top wines to only make them when the fruit is perfect gives fine wine collectors no end of grief. As a consequence there was no 2008, 2006, 2004, 2003 or 2001, nor was there one produced in 1997. Yet this wine is only produced in years when the fruit is exceptional. A traditional ‘Bordeaux blend’ this wine can be a melange of any or all of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec and cabernet franc depending on the vintage. Even waiting as little as 48 hours from tasting to harvest can mean the difference between success and failure”.Īlong with a group of Wellington-based wine enthusiasts I’ve joined Kate and her boss, General Manager Paul Ham at Duke Carvell’s Emporium, to taste for the first time a vertical collection of their flagship wine, The Aviator. I definitely think this is where we have the advantage over larger wineries, particularly in really challenging vintages like the one we’ve just had. “I love being able to walk outside directly into any of our vineyard blocks to check on how the fruit is tasting. We look forward to further nurturing our relationship with Negociants.“Having our winery right in the middle of the vineyard is the best thing for me as a winemaker” says Kate Galloway of Hawke’s Bay’s Alpha Domus wines. The family were particularly delighted to hear that Clive Weston was recently the deserving recipient of the Sir George Fistonich Medal at the International Wine Show. The flight required special dispensation to land at Auckland International Airport and the Tiger Moth only needed about 30 metres of the runway! It was an opportunity to enjoy the stunning scenery over Bridge Pa and other parts of the region as well as get the rare thrill of flying in one of these gracious planesĪnother memorable occasion was the Tiger Moth flight to Auckland delivering the 2000 vintage of our award winning AD The Aviator, the Negociants team were on hand to take delivery. Particular highlights included taking the team up in a Tiger Moth, being only room for the pilot and one passenger, the wine tasting went on as the team went up one by one. Alpha Domus is on the doorstep of the Bridge Pa aerodrome, which is home to many vintage aircraft including a number of Tiger Moths.

We have enjoyed hosting the Negociants team at the winery over the years and there have been many shared memorable experiences. That got us off to a great start and since then we have enjoyed our relationship with past and present members of the Negociants sales and management team. Five years earlier we had begun the development of our vineyard on soils that have created world-class wines from a wide range of varietals including, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Semillon, Chardonnay, Viognier and Syrah.Īs newcomers to the trade in 1995/96 we were very excited about the first wines we had made with our then winemaker Grant Edmonds.Īlpha Domus Rose, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot Cabernet were released to the trade as part of the 1996 Negociants Roadshow. In 1995 we met with Clive Weston in what was the infancy of our relationship with Negociants. The winery name Alpha Domus was inspired by the first initial of each of our first names from our Father and Mother through to the youngest brother Anthonius, Leonarda, Paulus, Henrikus and Anthonius (ALPHA) in age descending order Domus is Latin for house. “We have enjoyed a rewarding partnership with Negociants for 19 years.” It’s fantastic that two business partners are celebrating a special vintage together Negociants as New Zealand’s leading independent wine distributor who are celebrating 30 years and Alpha Domus, an award winning winery, celebrating 25 years.Īlpha Domus is a family-owned single estate winery, based in the Hawke’s Bay wine growing sub-region of the Bridge Pa Triangle.

Alpha domus