The family for this family run vineyard are Ian Percy,  Fiona Aitken and their children Johnny and Isobel.   Ian is the dreamer who dreamed up the idea of a vineyard and the wonderful lifestyle it would provide for raising a family.   It is a dream of twenty years and many miles.    Ian and Fiona moved to New Zealand from the UK in 2008, already with their two young children in tow.    Both are trained geologists with many years of experience and when they started the vineyard had not a jot of viticulture experience between them which is why they enlisted the help of James Dicey, who still keeps them on track with good advice and guidance.

 

They set out to learn the ropes on their own vineyard, living their dream.   Fiona is proud of her new found abilities to drive tractors, repair irrigation systems, prune, shoot thin, bunch thin and grow great quality grapes.  Sometimes she even lets the rest of the family help!!   

 

Dan and Sarah-Kate Dineen turn these wonderful nuggets of intensely flavoured fruit into delicious wines at their Maude Winery, just around the corner from the vineyard in Wanaka, the grapes proudly delivered each year by tractor and trailer.