Upper Moutere · Nelson · New Zealand

Organic wines from our home vineyard in Upper Moutere.

Alex Craighead Wines is a small organic winery and vineyard on our family property in Upper Moutere, Nelson. The new range is focused on our own land — long élevage, amphora and oak, and a clearer expression of place.

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Alex Craighead Wines Non Dosage sparkling bottle

A quieter, more focused direction

After many years of low-intervention winemaking, the focus has returned firmly to our own land.

The new wines are grown and made on our home property in Upper Moutere, with an emphasis on vineyard expression, texture, restraint and time. Where the project once moved widely — experimentation, zero-sulphur wines from 2013, early releases from Martinborough — it now narrows toward a single place.

The wines are aged slowly in a mix of amphora and oak for around twelve months before being racked and bottled. The aim is not to force a style, but to let the site, varieties and season speak with clarity.

The wines

Home vineyard wines from Upper Moutere

Non Dosage sparkling bottle

Non Dosage

Sparkling · Méthode traditionnelle · NV

Bright, dry and mineral. A precise sparkling wine from the home vineyard, bottled without dosage.

Home White bottle

Home White

White · Home vineyard

Textural, quiet and detailed. A home vineyard white shaped by Moutere clay, organic farming and long élevage.

Home Orange skin-contact bottle

Home Orange

Skin contact · Home vineyard

Aromatic, lifted and gently structured. Skin contact, texture and perfume from the home vineyard.

Home Red No. 1 bottle

Home Red No. 1

Red · Home vineyard

Layered, savoury and quietly structured. A deeper expression of red fruit, spice and Moutere clay.

Home Red No. 2 bottle

Home Red No. 2

Red · Home vineyard

Lighter, fragrant and energetic. A more lifted red expression with freshness, detail and fine structure.

Wines are available in limited quantities. For current releases and availability, get in touch or email alex@alexcraighead.co.nz.

The home vineyard

Planted on Moutere clay, surrounded by forest and orchard

Our home vineyard sits in Upper Moutere, in the Nelson / Tasman region of New Zealand. The vines grow on Moutere clay among forest, orchard and pasture, across rolling and sometimes steep aspects.

The vineyard is small but diverse — around 4.8 hectares planted within a wider family property of roughly 26 hectares. This diversity is central to the new wines, giving us the ability to build texture, detail and energy directly from the site.

  • Planted ~4.8 ha
  • Property ~26 ha
  • Soil Moutere clay
  • Region Upper Moutere, Nelson

Varieties

Chardonnay · Muscat · Riesling · Gewürztraminer · Pinot Gris · Sauvignon Blanc · Mtsvane · Chenin Blanc · Vermentino · Albariño · Pinot Noir · Gamay Noir · Nebbiolo · Cabernet Franc · Syrah

Organic since 1998

A whole-property system, not a label claim

The property has been certified organic through BioGro New Zealand since 1998 — one of the longest continually certified organic properties in the country. Organic farming is not treated as a trend or a marketing line, but as the foundation of how the vineyard, orchard, animals, forest and winery fit together.

The vines share the land with orchard, grazing cattle and native bush. It is a mixed family property where each part supports the others, and where the wine is one outcome of a larger way of farming.

Story

Alex Craighead & Josefina Venturino

Alex Craighead Wines was started by Alex Craighead and Josefina Venturino. Alex was born in Australia, raised in New Zealand, and studied wine at Lincoln University before working across a wide range of wine regions around the world. Josefina, a landscape architect from Argentina, brings a deep sensitivity to land, form and place.

The first wines were released in Martinborough in 2014, after several years of experimentation with low-intervention and zero-sulphur winemaking. In 2016, Alex and Josefina moved to Nelson and took on an organic winery and vineyard in Upper Moutere. The project now centres on that home property.

Contact

Enquiries & availability

For trade, import or general enquiries, please get in touch. We’re happy to talk about current wines, allocations and visits.

Or email us directly: alex@alexcraighead.co.nz