Owner

Ginny, Jeremy, Gregory Collinge

Winemaker

Winemaker Hayden Penny joined Supernatural Wine Co. at the beginning of 2015. Hayden is one of a new breed of young passionate winemakers who is totally focused on organic and natural winemaking in order to truly express terroir. In 2006 Hayden graduated with a Bachelor of Viticulture and a Bachelor of Wine Science from E.I.T. Hawke’s Bay, ranking 1st and 2nd in his class respectively. After spending a year as Assistant Winemaker at award-winning Hawke’s Bay winery Te Awa, Hayden spent three years as a flying winemaker, gaining valuable experience in the Sonoma and Napa regions of California, Marlborough in New Zealand, the Yarra Valley in Australia, Toro in Spain and finally southern Bulgaria. In 2010, Hayden returned to Hawke’s Bay and helped launch William Murdoch Wines acting as Vineyard Manager and Winemaker. The wines of William Murdoch are now considered to be Hawke’s Bay’s finest, organic red wines.

Appellation

Hawke's Bay

Distribution Area

Delaware, New Jersey, and New York

Varieties

Cabernet Franc, Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris), Sauvignon Blanc

Vineyard

The vineyards at Millar Road Estate cover 8.9 hectares of the 19 hectare property. 8.0 hectares Sauvignon Blanc (approximately 18,000 plants) and 0.9 hectares Pinot Gris (approximately 1,800 plants). Vines were planted in 2004 and 2005. The vineyard is an amazing site for viticulture, situated on a north-facing hillside with slopes up to 30 degrees. The site has proven pedigree due to its proximity to and on similar soils, slope and aspect as Te Mata Coleraine, one of New Zealand’s most accoladed vineyards. Over 90% of New Zealand’s vineyards are on flat land with alluvial gravel soils, so this soil and site produces very distinctive wines in a New Zealand context.

Farming

Biodynamic and Organic

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About Supernatural Wine Co.

Supernatural Wine Co. is a producer of certified organic, naturally vinified, low sulphur white and skin-fermented wines from a north-facing hillside estate in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Established by the Collinge family – Ginny and Jeremy and son Gregory – in 2009 when they decided to stop selling off the grapes from their estate vineyards and start producing their own wines. The family’s Millar Estate, overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Hawke’s Bay, is one-part agrotourism haven, one part art-house, and one part boutique winemaking facility.

Hayden Penny is Supernatural Wine Co.’s winemaker and viticulturist. He and the Collinge family’s winemaking philosophy relies on great terroir and traditional processes. Their aim is to make all wines at Supernatural Wine Co. as naturally as possible to produce true terroir-driven wines. To do so, he dry farms the vineyard, uses indigenous yeast for fermentation, and adds nothing to the wines other than a small amount of sulphur before bottling. The wines are not fined, and filtering skin-fermented wines stopped from the 2015 vintage onward. Supernatural Wine Co. obtained full organic certification with BioGro New Zealand (www.biogro.co.nz) in March 2015 and commenced biodynamic farming practices in 2015.

Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s oldest and second largest winemaking region. The Millar Road property is 19.4 hectares, with 8.9 hectares planted to vines. 8 hectares are Sauvignon Blanc (approximately 18,000 plants) and 0.9 hectares are Pinot Gris (approximately 1,800 plants). Vines were planted in 2004 and 2005. Over 90% of New Zealand’s vineyards are on flat land with alluvial gravel soils, so this soil and site produces very distinctive wines in a New Zealand context. The vineyard is an amazing site for viticulture being situated on a north-facing hillside with slopes up to 30 degrees. Soils are lime-rich clay with volcanic influence – they are classified as Matapiro sandy loam over Kidnappers Group sandstone and carbonaceous mudstone.