Welcome to the Moutere.  Our 30ha farm is situated in Tasman, on the rolling hills of the beautiful Moutere Valley, at the top of New Zealand's South Island.  Nestled between mountain ranges to the east and west, and the Tasman Sea to the north, our life here began in 2018 after spending a few years searching for the right piece of land to plant, grow and make Chardonnay and Cider how we love it.

In 2019 we established 21,000 close planted Chardonnay vines on rare Ultic clay soils (also known as Moutere clay), along with a small area of transplanted heritage apple trees for cider. 

Previously the entire farm was run as an apple orchard for over 100 years.  Today, we use the rest of our farm for breeding Wiltshire sheep which we also graze in the vineyard and orchard all year round.  They are our undervine mowers, bud rubbers, leaf pluckers and all-weather workers.

Typically sheep are only used for grazing in vineyards during the autumn and winter.  However, after initially planting our vineyard with a standard fruiting wire height (900mm), we have now lifted this to 1200mm to enABEL us to utilise the benefits of running sheep in the spring and summer too - we call it The Wiltshire Highwire.  This means we reduce compaction, fuel and labour with less mowing by machine, and the grass and plant species have a greater use keeping our sheep well fed.  In return the sheep spread fertiliser (sheep poo!) on the vineyard to keep our vines healthy.  It's a win, win.

The other great benefit of Wiltshire sheep is they self-shed their wool, which means Mark's back doesn't have to deal with shearing...There's already enough back breaking work in the vineyard.

We are also one of the first vineyards in New Zealand to use drone spraying for our vineyard and orchard.  Again, we want to reduce compaction of our beautiful clay soils, but also reduce fuel use and increase efficiencies around the farm.  So, in Spring 2023 we trialed drone spraying to good effect on two blocks, and now in 2024 we will carry out drone spraying on our entire 5ha of vines.

We are constantly learning and evolving what we do here at ABEL.  The work never stops and nor do the ideas and experimentation.  The continual strive for quality and authenticity is our focus.  If you want the inside story on ABEL please click through to our VISIT US page and make a trip to see us in the beautiful Moutere.  There's no place like it in the world!

Here’s a little bit of the history on how we ended up here…

We were bitten by the wine bug early. Sophie’s parents, James & Wendy Healy have been in the wine industry for over 40 years. Working with the iconic Cloudy Bay and then going on to co-establish Dog Point Vineyard in Marlborough.  Mark’s Dad Linton has been a viticulturist for just as long, working throughout New Zealand and then planting a vineyard in the Wairarapa in the early 90’s.

Mark spent school holidays and weekends (and school days!) in the vineyard then headed off to Lincoln University for the inaugural undergraduate degree program in Viticulture & Oenology. Upon completion, overseas vintages beckoned and after a few of them settled into a winemaking role back home in the Wairarapa. Not being one to sit still and wanting to travel and discover more about wine, Mark took up a role with a winery supply company selling French Oak barrels in Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile Sophie spent her school holidays and weekends working in Marlborough restaurants. Then headed off to Otago University, completed her degree (in Psych!) and moved to Melbourne where she worked for a winery supply company selling yeast and equipment.

That’s when our paths collided…

Fast forward over 20 years (ouch!), two little girls, a vineyard, slowly evolving orchard and sheep farm and we’re certainly keeping ourselves busy.  We feel very lucky to be in this part of the world, it’s a special part of New Zealand with hills, valleys, mountains and beaches all within a stone’s throw of our farm. In fact, just up the road you will find the picturesque Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand's smallest national park, located at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. This is where our name originates from.

We're looking forward to sharing our wines from this beautiful place with you.  Drink well, stay safe, be happy.

Cheers & enjoy!

Mark & Sophie McGill