Tua Marina is the vineyard of Franzi Grab and Lex Thomson and is located on the North bank of the Wairau River in Marlborough New Zealand. “The Block” comprises 4ha of Savignon blanc grapes which goes into Framingham Wines, plus a trial block of 1000 vines of Arneis, an aromatic white variety originating from Piemonte in Italy.

There is also a row and half of Pinot noir for personal consumption.

Franzi and Peter Binstead pressing the Pinot noir.

Viticulture Notes

Tua Marina vineyard is located on an alluvial terrace the north bank of the Wairau River in Marlborough, N.Z.
Climate is semi-arid with annual rainfall averaging 647mm. Mean annual Growing Degree Days are1280.(Climate data from Marlborough Wine Research Centre).

Soil type is Waimakariri Shallow, a free draining stony alluvial soil (Landcare Research).

Row spacing is 2.7m. In row spacing is 1.8m for the Sauvignon blanc and 1.2 for the Pinot noir and Arneis.

The Sauvignon blanc is Clone 1 on 101-14 rootstock. The Pinot noir is Clone 667 on Schwartzman and Clone 115 on 3309. The Arneis is Clone CTV.CN15 on 101-14.

Tua Marina is committed to sustainable viticulture and has SWNZ accreditation and is in the process of converting to organic viticulture and aquiring Bio Grow certification.

Waimakariri Shallow soil profile.

Arneis

In its home in the Rorero region of Piemonte, Arneis is known as ''The Little Rascal" due to its unpredictable nature, as it can be low yielding and difficult to grow. In the right conditions it can produce concentrated , citrusy wines perfumed with herbs, pears and almonds. The variety has a thick skin which confers some degree of resistance to Botrytis rot.

There are an increasing number of New Zealand producers growing the variety. Hopefully Tua Marina's free draining soils and temperate climate will prove to be suitable for the vines capricious temperament.

Budburst in the Arneis.