Red Hut is on a mission to shake up New Zealand wines – fed up with the ‘Savalanche’ of ubiquitous Sauvignon Blanc brands and what they refer to as “all these commercial, contrived ‘Bullshit Bays’.”
Highlighting Hawke’s Bay strong suitability for producing premium-quality Chardonnay, Red Hut’s wine has lifted citrus and stone fruit characters, well-integrated oak influence and a long, mineral-driven finish.
Red Hut - which is named after the huts that scatter the New Zealand countryside offering hikers and adventurers shelter and safety - consists of five wines from four regions. They place an important focus is on the relatively unknown sub-regions from where they source the grapes - Red Hut doesn’t own any vineyards, but works with tried and trusted growers, looking to make quality wines that celebrate and highlight the areas where the varietals are grown.
They are confident that, by sourcing from their preferred sub-regions, small parcel modern winemaking will showcases the diversity, quality and provenance within New Zealand’s viniculture.
This Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay from the Roy’s Hill sub region is full bodied, with a touch of oak but is all about lots of complexity – a wine of precision, structure and balance. The well-drained soils of Roy’s Hill, along with its sheltered microclimate, provided ideal conditions for Chardonnay vines to flourish. Along with cooler night-time temperatures, these factors help to preserve a vibrant acidity while allowing the development of complex flavours and aromatic intensity.
Fruit was sourced from two select vineyards in the Roy’s Hill sub-region of Hawke’s Bay. Hand-harvested grapes were chilled overnight to 8°C before being whole-bunch pressed directly to French oak barriques, 35% of which were new. The juice was allowed to warm gradually and underwent natural fermentation. The wine was fermented to dryness and matured in barrel for 11 months, with regular lees stirring for two months. A small amount of sulphur was used, and the wine underwent cold and heat stabilisation prior to blending and bottling. No further additions were made.
Red Hut is a partnership between long term friends and wine professionals Corey Ryan and Mike Farrugia. Barossa Valley born Australian winemaker Corey has had a long-term love affair with New Zealand wine driven by his time as chief winemaker of Villa Maria – 2003-08. He was named New Zealand Winemaker of the Year in 2007 and was a finalist for Australian Winemaker of the Year in 2016. A native New Zealander, Mike has worked in the New Zealand wine industry for decades selling worldwide and running his own import and distribution business. Both are keen bush walkers, drawn to the communal love of the outdoors and the willingness to help others that the Red Hut refuges offering shelter and safety in mountain areas represent.
They believe the Red Hut range reflects both the diversity and excellence that New Zealand wines can offer. Up against what they regard as the export of “fairly average” wines they are focused on tapping into excellent little sub regions - new discoveries of interest to the consumer, keen to explain the provenance of where they are from and why the wines taste they like they do.
Red Hut is on a mission to shake up New Zealand wines – fed up with the ‘Savalanche’ of ubiquitous Sauvignon Blanc brands and what they refer to as “all these commercial, contrived ‘Bullshit Bays’.”
Highlighting Hawke’s Bay strong suitability for producing premium-quality Chardonnay, Red Hut’s wine has lifted citrus and stone fruit characters, well-integrated oak influence and a long, mineral-driven finish.
Red Hut - which is named after the huts that scatter the New Zealand countryside offering hikers and adventurers shelter and safety - consists of five wines from four regions. They place an important focus is on the relatively unknown sub-regions from where they source the grapes - Red Hut doesn’t own any vineyards, but works with tried and trusted growers, looking to make quality wines that celebrate and highlight the areas where the varietals are grown.
They are confident that, by sourcing from their preferred sub-regions, small parcel modern winemaking will showcases the diversity, quality and provenance within New Zealand’s viniculture.
This Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay from the Roy’s Hill sub region is full bodied, with a touch of oak but is all about lots of complexity – a wine of precision, structure and balance. The well-drained soils of Roy’s Hill, along with its sheltered microclimate, provided ideal conditions for Chardonnay vines to flourish. Along with cooler night-time temperatures, these factors help to preserve a vibrant acidity while allowing the development of complex flavours and aromatic intensity.
Fruit was sourced from two select vineyards in the Roy’s Hill sub-region of Hawke’s Bay. Hand-harvested grapes were chilled overnight to 8°C before being whole-bunch pressed directly to French oak barriques, 35% of which were new. The juice was allowed to warm gradually and underwent natural fermentation. The wine was fermented to dryness and matured in barrel for 11 months, with regular lees stirring for two months. A small amount of sulphur was used, and the wine underwent cold and heat stabilisation prior to blending and bottling. No further additions were made.
Red Hut is a partnership between long term friends and wine professionals Corey Ryan and Mike Farrugia. Barossa Valley born Australian winemaker Corey has had a long-term love affair with New Zealand wine driven by his time as chief winemaker of Villa Maria – 2003-08. He was named New Zealand Winemaker of the Year in 2007 and was a finalist for Australian Winemaker of the Year in 2016. A native New Zealander, Mike has worked in the New Zealand wine industry for decades selling worldwide and running his own import and distribution business. Both are keen bush walkers, drawn to the communal love of the outdoors and the willingness to help others that the Red Hut refuges offering shelter and safety in mountain areas represent.
They believe the Red Hut range reflects both the diversity and excellence that New Zealand wines can offer. Up against what they regard as the export of “fairly average” wines they are focused on tapping into excellent little sub regions - new discoveries of interest to the consumer, keen to explain the provenance of where they are from and why the wines taste they like they do.
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