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“Ransom Wines is highly acclaimed for the elegance and finesse of its Bordeaux blends and for the great food and wine experience in its wine bar.”—Australian Gourmet Traveller
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“Father and son winemakers Robin and Gabe Ransom seem to have captured the essence of the local terroir in their wines”—Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier
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“I was impressed with the high standard of winemaking and individuality of Ransom wines. They are serious, and mostly complex wines that reveal good cellaring potential and reflect a traditional winemaking approach. All suggest thoughtful and creative winemaking technique.”—Bob Campbell 2010
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“Ransom was a fantastic spot to stop in at and see what Matakana wines are all about. The grounds were beautiful, the people are passionate and the wines were delightful.”—Mitchell Krstovski, Sommelier, Numbers Restaurant
our wines
Ransom Wines is a family owned and operated company producing wines from classic French grape varieties.
All the wines are made with grapes grown in our Mahurangi River Vineyard in the Matakana wine region just north of Auckland.
As a small family run operation, our wines celebrate the variations from one vintage to another, which makes each wine unique. In this way we avoid the manufactured uniformity which characterises much of the wine available today.
Winemaking Philosophy
To maximize the advantages of our soils, climate and topography, through careful vineyard management and minimal interference in the winery. It is our aim to produce wines of elegance and finesse, which will complement food and improve with age.
Albarino
Albarino is a white grape from Galicia, the Atlantic coastal province of Spain just north of the border with Portugal. Wines made from the Albarino grape have been establishing a big presence in Europe in recent years. It makes full-bodied wine, which can have the richness of chardonnay but with a great balancing act in the form of a very nice acid structure. All of which makes for a great seafood wine. The Spanish reckon it is the world's best shellfish and crustacea wine, but the rest of Europe seems to consider it pretty splendid with any form of seafood.
Well, now the grape has arrived in New Zealand. Albarino vines were planted at the end of 2009 for the first time - just a handful of vineyards have been allocated some vines, including Ransom Wines. In fact we were the only vineyard north of Gisborne to have planted the grape from the first release vines in 2009. We planted more Albarino vines in 2010 and now have approximately two acres of it. We expect to be cropping our initial plantings in 2012 and should produce a small amount of wine from that, with more substantial volumes in subsequent years.
The first Albarino wine produced in NZ was in 2010, by Coopers Creek, from Gisborne fruit. We can report that the wine is splendid, living up to its reputation for good body, firm acid, and great flavours.
We are really excited by it, so watch this space!
Carmenère
Read here how Ransom Wines came to have the first Carmenère in New Zealand.