Black Estate

The Free Bacchus Story

Black Estate is named for a family that no longer owns it. Russell Black planted the home block above Omihi in 1994. Nicholas Brown and Pen Naish bought the property in 2007 with Pen's parents, Rob and Stacey, and left the name where it was.

Two more hillside vineyards followed, both within a few kilometres of the first. Damsteep arrived in 2012, seven hectares of Pinot Noir and Riesling on clay over fractured limestone. Netherwood came in 2015 and is the oldest ground they farm: planted in 1986, never irrigated, and still growing on its own roots rather than the grafted rootstock most of the world has planted since phylloxera.

A week before picking, they crush a few bunches from each block and leave them to ferment outdoors, where the fruit grew. That starter goes into the winery ahead of the harvest it came from. The ordinary alternative is a packet of commercial yeast, which works reliably and tastes much the same wherever it is used; the detour exists so that each block ferments with the population living on its own skins.

Cows and the neighbours' sheep graze between the rows, cover crops go in instead of herbicide, and no systemic sprays are used on any of the three sites. All three are certified organic with BioGro. Demeter certified the estate biodynamic in 2022, which in New Zealand is not a badge collected instead of organic certification: Demeter requires the organic certificate be held and maintained alongside it.

North Canterbury is not a region most drinkers could place. Its signature is limestone under clay, and the Pinot Noir grown on it leans savoury and red-fruited rather than sweet or heavy.