CERES

Can you capture a time and place and trap it in a bottle? Every harvest, we try.The elements needed to craft a CERES wine are the vineyard plus heat, rain, wind. The precise amounts of each vary from year to year. The grapes endure the fury of nature and then we harvest them by hand. Swansong. Black Rabbit. Inlet. Each vineyard has its own essence. We take the grapes that hold this essence and make single vineyard wines. Last of all, we choose a small number of barrels from each vineyard that are their truest expression and create a composition. An ode to the year. It’s simple. We bottle time.

Matt and James Dicey

They are neighbours. James a winegrower, Matt a winemaker. Both fierce about wine and family and the land that’s home to both.Wine runs deep. Their father, Robin, learned the art in South Africa. He arrived in New Zealand in the seventies and planted the vines that bore the fruit that became Corbans, followed by Mortons Estate. In 1992, Robin settled in Central Otago and sowed the seeds for Mt Difficulty. The Diceys are New Zealand winemaking pioneers. Mt Difficulty is their foundation, CERES is their legacy. CERES fruit comes from three vineyards: one the father’s, one each for the sons. Swansong. Inlet. Black Rabbit. Each with their own unique character. Every harvest, the best fruit from these vineyards is saved to make the brothers’ CERES blends. This wine is made by hand and hard graft.