Winemaking

Our Winery

In 2012 we purchased a winery which is utilised to make Aronui as well as Tohu Wine. This purchase enables our Winemaker Bruce and his team continue with their award winning wine making with this modern, fit for purpose facility.

Our Winemaker

Bruce Taylor is the winemaker for Aronui Wines and has been since its inception. Working out of the Tohu Winery in Marlborough, Bruce and his team work hard to make wines that reflect the block, vineyard and region from where they came. 

Some Q & A's with Bruce

What inspired you to become a winemaker?

I started to get interested in the world of wine in my late 20’s and in particular while backpacking through North and South America. I visited a lot of wine areas in Chile, Argentina, California and Canada and started to think about how nice it would be to live in these beautiful places and to be able to actually make something that people valued and enjoyed.

What is your winemaking philosophy?

I believe that wine should encapsulate a place, and a time. As a product it doesn’t play by the same rules as mass-produced consumer goods; i.e. its always different from year to year, place to place and I think the winemaker should be trying to show those differences and not make a conformist, homogeneous product that could be from anywhere in the world. I am hoping to make the best possible wine that shows the differences we can achieve from our vineyards versus others.

What is the most challenging aspect of your role as winemaker?

I think the most challenging part of my role is having to wear many different hats on a daily basis. In a relatively small company, the role requires knowing and managing intimately the whole process from growing the grapes through harvesting to fermenting and finishing the wines, then getting them safely and carefully into bottles. Not too mention the marketing, sales, logistics and financial side of the business!

What is your favourite wine to make? And to drink?

Pinot Noir would be my favourite without a doubt. I love drinking and enjoying really good Pinots and of all the grapes we have they are by far the most fickle to grow; the trickiest to handle in the winery and the most challenging to get right in the bottle at the end of it all....

If you weren’t a winemaker, what would you be doing?

Pro surfer or possibly lead goal scorer for New Zealand in the soccer world cup. Though I admit that I may have left my run a bit late.....

The best thing about making wines for Aronui and Tohu is...

We have some truly great vineyard sites that are only now starting to show their potential. Working for a Kiwi owned company that genuinely cares for its people and its land is I think a bit of a rarity these days and is something I am grateful for every day.....