People ask about my winemaking philosophy, a question I find always falls short of what truly motivates me to give 100% at Carrick. Carrick has been about the vineyard and a sustainable lifestyle from the beginning. We understand the concept of a sorting table but have no use for one, as first and foremost we seek quality fruit from healthy vines. This is our daily focus and what led us to organic and biodynamic farming, eventually certifying with BioGro NZ in 2008. It is all that cover-cropping, seaweed, preparation 500 and solid hard work in the vineyard that equates to my “winemaking” being an exercise in understanding site expression, rather than fixing problems with chemical additives. It is only natural that we have used minimal sulphur, natural yeast, no fining and no filtration techniques in our winemaking for the past ten years. Most of all it is the idea that the “land is left in a better state from which we started, when we leave” that motivates me. A philosophy that was put in place by Barbara and Steve Green who planted the vineyard in 1993.