Tinpot Hut Pinot Gris 2008 (6 x 750mL), Marlborough, NZ.

THE TINPOT HUT STORY…

Launched in 2006, Tinpot Hut is the exciting solo venture of Fiona Turner, who has collaborated for a number of years with winemaker Matt Thomson, on some of Marlborough’s most well-known wines.

Fiona has drawn on her considerable experience as a winemaking consultant in Marlborough and Hawkes Bay to identify vineyards which produce exceptional fruit. In 2004 Fiona and Hamish Turner established their own vineyard at Blind River in the Awatere Valley of Marlborough … and so began Tinpot Hut, a label that blends parcels of fruit from a range of sites carefully selected by Fiona.

Fiona’s winemaking philosophy is to be a custodian of the fruit, to protect the potential the fruit shows in the vineyard, and translate that to the wine. Her priority is to spend as much time in the vineyards to ensure the best possible condition, flavor profile and intensity is achieved.

The Tinpot Hut range comprises a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, a Marlborough Pinot Gris, a Marlborough Pinot Noir and a Hawkes Bay Syrah, and most recently, a Marlborough Grüner Veltliner. The wines are exported to the England, Scotland, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Canada.

THE TINPOT HUT NAME…

The Tinpot Hut that gave its name to the wines is an old mustering hut in the remote hills between the Wairau and Awatere Valleys of Marlborough. These huts were used as a base for musterers as they rounded up the sheep that had been in the hills from spring to autumn.

The name links Marlborough’s past as a sheep farming centre with its current state as one of the world’s most dynamic wine regions.