Ata Rangi aims high with “Arrow”

The dart-shaped Ata Rangi Tasting Room is an innovative design that takes advantage of the vineyard views.

Ata Rangi, the family-owned organic winery that helped pioneer wine development in Martinborough, has a sparkling new “Arrow-tip” shaped tasting facility emerging from under the canopies of mature trees.

“We had basically outgrown our original Cellar Door,” said winery co-owner Ali Paton of the 40-year-old centre which is now focused on wine sales. 

Building code changes and other requirements “made us decide, ‘right, we’ve got to do it.’” 

“With the numbers of people we were getting through (for tastings) we felt we didn’t have the space to give them a really good experience. And we didn’t have the space for wine tourism or media.”

“We didn’t have anywhere to host guest gatherings,” she added.

The result is an architect-designed triangular building “and we just fell in love with it.” Only two mature trees on the site had to be removed for the new building, which has a weatherboard exterior that will grey over time.

Inside, floor-to-ceiling windows let in sunlight filtered through leaves and guests look out on rows of vines and through to the mountains, still currently topped with snow.

Architect Beth Cameron said the “best bits” of the project included using untreated Lawson Cypress   boards inside the building from trees grown, cut, dried and milled by co-owner Clive Paton. 

Ali Paton says “we’re really pleased with it _ an intimate tasting space for 10 – 12 people, which can seat up to 30.” Pre-booking means tastings “can be curated to suit the group.” 

Ata Rangi offers “a lot” of wine styles, though “our real focus is Pinot Noir and Chardonnay,  our flagships, plus Celebre – our blend we’ve been making since 1986” along with at least six other varieties grown on 13 blocks round the area, some of which are Ata Rangi-owned or leased and some provide fruit supply from contract growers.

The public reaction to the new Cellar Door? 

“People just love it, people are really blown away.  It just works so well,” she said. “It’s going to be there in another 40 years _ or in 100 years time.”

Ata Rangi’s Arrow-tip shaped building also won a major architecture award this year, along with nearby Nga Waka’s new Cellar Door.

The judges said the finished Ata Rangi building is “truly inspired, and a triumph for all those involved, including client, architect and builder.”

Nga Waka mirrors Kupe Canoes

At Nga Waka Winery on the other side of town, general manager Mick Hodson said the response to the winery’s new cellar-door facility “has been fantastic … with lots of really good feedback from our educational tastings.”

With the new premises, Hodson said the post-Covid recovery has been strong and really hasn’t slowed down, attracting people from all over the country – and internationally as well.

“People come here and we have a perfect site for it. Our focus isn’t dining, though we do serve meals, but very much wine education, tasting and wine sales.”

The architecture award-winning building was designed by local architect Victoria Read and built by Greytown’s Holmes Construction.

“It’s great that a small Martinborough architectural firm could win a major award against all the big companies,” he said.

The build came in within its $2 million dollar budget “from start to fitout,” with contract variations “less than 2%. It was a good outcome, (and) we also had good support from the council.”

The building’s form and orientation draws inspiration from the legend of Nga Waka o Kupe (the Canoes of Kupe) which are landmarks of South Wairarapa.

Nga Waka was first planted in 1988 and produced its first wines in 1993, “so we’ve just completed our 31st vintage,” Hodson said.

Nga Waka produces predominantly Pinot Noir (60%) and Chardonnay (30%) and has just planted new Gamay and Chenin Blanc vines. 

The terrible summer weather and reduced sunshine hours meant the 2023 summer was very wet. 

Chardonnay is, however, “generally good,” he said, though the Pinot Noir was “a difficult vintage and we’re looking forward to 2024. But 2018 – 21 were very good, so you have to take the good with the bad.”

Major upgrades for Martinborough cellar doors

The Runholder tasting space.

Three Martinborough wineries have just swung open new winery doors as the region’s facilities for tasting and dining undergo a major upgrade costing millions of dollars.

Two of the three – Nga Waka Cellar Door and nearby Ata Rangi Tasting Room – jointly won first prize in the New Zealand Institute of Architects Awards’  Wellington Hospitality category.

At the other end of town’s Te Kairanga vineyard, Foley Family Wines has just opened The Runholder, a $10-million dollar wine, wine tasting, food and gin distilling development.

These new facilities will add to the area’s attractions, already experiencing an upsurge in visitor numbers in the wake of the lifting of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

The Runholder’s staff are clearly proud of their big, bold new premises on the edge of Martinborough, with its large tasting area and stunning copper-clad Gin Still just through the glass off the entrance-way. Then it’s through to the dining room where 100 diners can sit to eat and mull over their glasses of Te Kairanga wines.

The menu encapsulates the functions of the place with the phrase “Wine – Gin – Dine.” And beneath the ground floor is a massive cellar or “Barrel Room,” which can hold 1,300 oak barrels of maturing wines in a steady cool atmosphere, stacked four high.

The about-to-be-commissioned gin still is for production of Lighthouse Gin, a Foley Wines label that is alreeady exporting to the United States. The new still has the capacity to produce 700 litres of the liquor in each batch, more than three times the 200 litres of the old still which was at Foley-owned Martinboroigh Vineyard from 2014.  … Continue Reading

From the Mayor

Wiremu Dawson and his moko, from Hau Ariki Marae, alongside May and Peter Croft, during the blessing of and welcome to the new foodbank premises.

Review of rates under way

The first comment I make is intended to be helpful for people who are concerned about rates. The Council is undertaking a process called a “Rating Review” which looks at the principals and policies that determine how rates get set in the district. 

If you would like to be consulted, please let me have your name and contact details and I will make sure you are put on the list of those to be contacted.

There will be a public notice when the consultation is occurring, but sometimes notices in newspapers and other such places get missed.

Last month the Council received some positive feedback from the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), regarding the Martinborough wastewater plant. As many of us are aware, this plant had been served with an abatement notice.

The Council has put a proposal to GWRC for the following future work on the plant. This work covers:

1. Desludging

2. Monitoring wastewater flow and quality, prior to future upgrades, and

3. Investigating UV treatment.

GWRC has accepted the Council’s proposals and has cancelled the original abatement notice and replaced it with three ‘To Do’ abatement notices aligned with the three projects listed above.  … Continue Reading