The original vineyard was established in 1981, by Wellingtonian engineer Rex Brooke-Taylor who took the name ‘Framingham’ from his ancestral home town near Norwich, England. Before we brought our winemaking on site and under our control in 1997, we used other wineries’ facilities to produce our initial releases. And the first wine we released to the world under the Framingham name was a 1994 Riesling.
In past years we’ve been known to produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinotage, Merlot, Merlot-Malbec, Chenin Blanc and Methode Champenoise. But today, we’re a family-owned Sogrape company with ranges including Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Viognier and Montepulciano.
Now producing all our wine from our new winery on Conders Bend Road, we made our first ever batch onsite in 1998. The rest, they say, is history.
We’re big believers in doing what you love. So when it comes to making wine, we just make wine that we ourselves want to drink. We love aromatic styled wines to accompany food. And over the years, our Framingham range has grown with a strong tradition of winemaking for balance, texture and complexity.
By combining small batches of fruit from different parts of the vineyard, we build depth of flavour and texture. And by using experimental techniques and blending options, we take risks. And the result? Rich, expressive wines we love to drink.
Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir and Montepulciano all grow on our Estate. But small batches mean limited quantities. So when Framingham wines are gone, they’re gone.
Based on warm, well-drained stony soils, our Wairau Valley vineyard was first planted in 1981 and is now home to some of the oldest Riesling vines in Marlborough. The alluvial soils of our Wairau Valley Estate were formed by the sedimentation of the Wairau River. In the warm centre of the valley – where there’s low rainfall and relatively low frost risk – we can harvest controlled yields at desired ripeness.
Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Viognier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are all grown on our Estate. And we have carefully selected 12 contract vineyards in the same valley, which give us plenty of options.
We want to make quality wines for years to come. But not at the expense of the land. So we take a low-impact approach to vineyard management. We do a lot of the work by hand, and we focus on the environment by avoiding systemic chemicals and planting flowers to encourage biodiversity.
Accredited as a sustainable vineyard and winery under the Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand program, our Estate vineyard is also Certified Organic through BioGro NZ Ltd – further reflecting our efforts to bring things back into balance.
Framingham