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Copper was mined on the island in the 1840s
and 50s, with the buildings and towers of the copper mines
using bricks made at Brick Bay. Although there are remnants
of the mines and towers on Kawau, the pottery at the bay
is long gone. But the name remains and we have taken the
brick tower image which also alludes to light-houses, as
the symbol of Brick Bay Wines. The lighthouse image is further
developed in the name of our red wine, Pharos, (see under
WINES) while a brick tower also forms the cornerstone of
our house on the property which overlooks the bay.
With over 80 hectares planted in vines, the Matakana wine
district is one of the country’s newer wine areas,
although grapes have been planted here since the early 1980s.
Matakana's longer growing days and a warmer mean temperature
than other wine areas in New Zealand promises a bright future,
but the higher rainfall and humidity nevertheless means that
growers need to look carefully at the siting of vineyards
to allow excess moisture to rapidly drain away and organise
the vine canopy systems to enhance air circulation.
IN THE VINEYARD
 he
original 3.5 hectare vineyard block was selected for its
north facing aspect, gently rolling slopes and free-draining
clay loam soils. The site is frost-free, and although protected
from the prevailing westerly winds the vineyard is gently
aired by the sea breezes which help to dissipate any humidity.
Sloping down to lakes and flanked
by native bush, the vineyard is very attractive indeed
but the trade-off is that the proximity to trees means
our bird scaring arsenal of scarecrows, sonic alarms
and bird netting is well used! Lately, a few native hawks
have
voluntarily joined our bird-scaring brigade……
Our Pinot Gris block was the first to be planted in 1994, while we waited for
further low-vigour rootstocks for the grafting of our red varieties, which
were planted the following year. 25% of the vineyard is planted in Pinot Gris,
while the remaining 75% is Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec.
All our viticultural practices are focused around controlling crop loading
on the vines to ensure richly complex flavoured wines, manipulating an open
vine canopy to ensure sunlight penetration for ripening and air movement
to discourage disease, and aiming for minimal chemical intervention to ensure
healthy, well-balanced vines.
As in the premium wine areas of France, our vines have never been irrigated
as we believe the roots need to delve deep into the substructure to develop
complex
flavours
as they
access
a multiplicity
of minerals and trace elements in the soil.
The mid-height Sylvoz trellising system allows the vine’s fruiting zone
to be separated from the main leafing canopy, allowing
good sunlight penetration for ripening and colour development plus air circulation
to minimise disease.
Each vine is carefully tended through
its yearly cycle by hand, from the initial shoot selection
which controls
the framework of the new season’s growth,
to leaf plucking to expose the developing bunches, to selecting which
bunches will stay to maturity and which will be
discarded. This means the vine
will concentrate on ripening a small load of fruit
well, rather than a large load
indifferently,
with a subsequent loss in flavour. At harvest, a small team carefully selects
the perfect bunches to pick, while further quality control
takes place as all fruit passes over a grading table
to retain only the best fruit. No compromise on quality in the vineyard
means low yields, but it gives us rewarding quality in
the resulting wine.
As we strive towards minimal chemical intervention
in our viticultural practices, we encourage biodiversity
through adjacent wildflower crops,and are currently introducing
inter-row cover crops to further encourage biological disease
control and to remove excess water from the soil at ripening.
We are also undertaking research into biodynamic principles
in a move to further minimise spray usage.
See News Page for update on Sustainable Winegrowing
IN THE WINERY
 ur approach to winemaking is also based on minimal intervention
using the guiding principles of gentle handling and allowing
the varieties to express
their individuality with minimal winery manipulation. As the fruit is picked
and graded, it is placed in a refrigerated container ready for transport
on its hour journey to West Brook Winery in West Auckland
where the winemaker,Anthony
Ivicevich,starts the vinification process.
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The Pinot Gris is generally whole-bunch pressed
then slowly fermented out in stainless steel. We firmly believe
that most wines benefit from ‘sleeping’ in the
bottle after the shock of the bottling process, to allow
time to reintegrate flavours . While cash flow demands generally
drive the timing of wine releases, we believe that it is
more important to release when the wine itself is ready;
we therefore hold back our Pinot Gris release until the end
of the year.
Each red variety that we harvest is separately fermented out, with extended
maceration to extract colour and flavour.
After minimal fining, filtering and racking the wine spends 12 months in carefully
chosen, predominantly French oak barrels(around 30% new each vintage) before
blending.
The wine must then be allowed time to re-emerge
in a harmonious new blended form and is consequently bottle-aged
for a further 12 months before release.
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rick
Bay Vineyard is located in the Matakana wine-growing district,
an hour’s drive north of Auckland, New Zealand. The
name of our vineyard refers to its location; the property
opens on to Brick Bay,an attractive small bay overlooking
Kawau Island. 
