Our Story

River-T Estate was planted in 2007, as a small boutique vineyard with a mix of grape varieties, on the banks of the Waitaki River near the Kurow township (40 minutes inland from Oamaru). This site was selected for its historic fruit-cropping ability, high-growing degree days, rich alluvial soil entwined with limestone, and its northerly aspect.
This complex geology means the Waitaki wines are notable for their distinctive minerality, crisp acidity and complex fruit flavours.
We hand-harvest our grapes from the end of April until mid-May, making it one of the last vineyards to harvest in New Zealand.

River-T Estates' philosophy is to remain a small, boutique vineyard and focus totally on quality from the paddock to the glass.

Sustainable Wine Growing

At River-T Estate Wines, we are committed to growing wine in a sustainable way and using best practice in the management of our vineyard and production of our wines. We are fully certified under the New Zealand Winegrowers certification program.

If you would like further information on sustainable wine growing in New Zealand, please click here.

We also enjoy giving back to our local community projects and both Karen and Murray are involved in several community initiatives. The Kurow Hill trail and Kurow Wetland are projects that Karen is particularly passionate about and rolls her sleeves up to get stuck in.