Riverbrook Vineyard / Wairau Valley
Subregion: Wairau Valley
Region: Marlborough
Grows: Chardonnay
Planting density: 1793 plants per ha
Clone: Mendoza
Planted: 1979
Rainfall: 1100 mm / annum
Mean Annual GDD: 1250-1300
Soils: Loess, silts over greywacke gravel, old river bed
Elevation (m): 32 m
Hectares: 5.5 ha
Riverbrook Vineyard - Climate & Soils
Riverbrook lies on the central Wairau Valley plain, an exposed Marlborough site shaped by the region’s prevailing north-westerly winds. While their strength is rarely advertised locally, these winds keep the vineyard largely free from frost. Warm summer days – often reaching 30°C – are tempered by cool nights of 11–12°C, creating the steady, even ripening conditions that suit Chardonnay on the valley floor.
The defining character of Riverbrook, however, lies beneath the vines. The vineyard sits on an ancient riverbed where the soils are composed largely of greywacke stones, rounded smooth by centuries of river movement. In places old swale lines are still visible – seams of densely packed stones – while other areas contain only a light thread of loess woven through the stones. The result is a complex patchwork of soils across the site, and over time we have come to see how clearly the vines respond to these subtle shifts beneath their roots.
The most distinctive fruit consistently comes from the boniest ground, where the soils are almost entirely stone. With very little capacity to hold water, the vines remain under constant stress, producing fruit with natural tension
and minerality.