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Isabel Estate is nestled into the heart of the Wairau Valley in Marlborough, situated at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. Marlborough is New Zealand's largest and most successful wine producing area renowned for the production of exuberantly fruity Sauvignon Blanc and intensely aromatic white wines. They produce true "estate" wines, those being produced only from vineyards under their total control. Isabel Estate produces inspired wines that are a strong expression of the individual style and character as determined by the vineyard soil and site. Isabel was established in 1982 and set out to produce premium classical grape varieties in Marlborough. Prior to the 1994 vintage, Proprietor Michael Tiller, then an airline pilot with Air New Zealand, together with his wife Robyn, operated Isabel Vineyards as a contract grape grower supplying some of Marlborough's leading wine producers with much sought after premium fruit. Located in the Wairau Valley in the heart of Marlborough, Isabel Estate Vineyards receives the full benefit of extended sunshine hours combined with a long, relatively cool growing season. Long, brilliantly sunny and mild autumns allow for the development of intense flavors and aromas in the fruit. Isabel Estate is not only one of the largest family owned vineyards in Marlborough, it also has some of the oldest vines in the area producing exceptional quality grapes and wines from: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Riesling. Yields for the Isabel Estate wines are restricted by pruning and, where necessary, shoot and bunch thinning ensures that fruit quality is fully optimized. They have also adapted a careful consideration to their environment by combining rootstock selection and plant spacing to present a holistic concept where the vines have to moderately stress to find water, making them stronger and enabling them to produce grapes of the highest quality. Their philosophy of working the land is simple: "respect the soil where the grapes grow and allow the unique characters of each vineyard and variety to be expressed in the final wine". Pinot Gris literally translates in to "green cluster." That's because, unlike most white grapes, the skin has a greenish tinge to it. It soars to great heights in Alsace and in Northeast Italy where it is known as Pinot Grigio. February 2010 Limited Series Newsletter (.pdf)
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