Our vineyard

The van der Mark vineyard was part of Bendigo station, and is situated in the middle of an elevated old glacial terrace overlooking the Clutha river valley. This terrace was named “Chinaman’s terrace”, after the chinese gold miners who were said to be growing vegetables here.

The 11 hectare vineyard site gently slopes due north, and at its higher altitude (320-400m) provides a large diurnal temperature variation. The days are hot and nights turn cold very quickly: optimal growing conditions for premium quality pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling.

Our Pinot noir clones include all of the famous traditional clones such as Abel, UCD5, 115, 667, 777 as well as some exciting newer clones (828 and 943). Our Chardonnay includes the traditional Mendoza as well as the newer clone 548, and small quantities of muscat blending clone 809. Our riesling is made from the alsatian clone 49.

Our soils are a mix of schist, rock, soft grey clay and windblown loess, with high porosity, some chalk and relatively little organic matter. Whilst these soils are not generally useful for growing many crops, our grape varieties seem to thrive here, picking up the interesting characteristics of the soils.

The vineyard is bordered to the south by Bendigo Department of Conservation land and has a beautiful Kanuka Loop track walk with stunning views over the old glacial terrace. To the east, west and north are other high quality Bendigo vineyards that produce premium quality Central Otago wines.