StoneCroft.co.nz
Title
Stonecroft Traditional Wines -- New Zealand Winery in Hawke's Bay
Description
Stonecroft began for Alan and Glennice Limmer with a vision to grow high quality fruit and make modestly small volumes of high quality wine. Alan’s interest in wine started prematurely while still at school and produced a series of undrinkable fermentation experiments. The most successful could at least claim to run the lawn mower, albeit briefly.
This latent potential at indigenous biochemistry finally revealed itself after graduating with a Doctorate in Science. The academic background included a major in both Earth Sciences and Chemistry. This harmonious combination of academic training led to a move in 1980 to Hawkes Bay to manage an analytical chemistry facility. This was strongly involved in the local agricultural sector, including the ‘small’ wine industry. Like a moth to a light, Alan found himself in close contact with the few wineries at the time – numbering about six.
It did not take long for the ‘me too’ syndrome to surface. In 1982 , armed with a good local knowledge of the climate and soils, and viticulture Alan set off on an expedition to find the ‘best’ locality to plant a vineyard. This process took some six months and covered every corner of Hawkes Bay. The dart finally landed in a very stony free draining piece of land north west of Hastings. This land was generally considered waste land, of no productive value due to its drought prone nature, and low fertility. For more on this – see below – ‘The Battle’. A 10 acre plot was purchased late in 1982, and the family moved.
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