ELEMENTS OF A MANIFESTO
The Oraterra Manifesto is our way of defining, organising and expressing the influences, intentions, ambitions and objectives imbued within Oraterra wines.
It is drawn from the five classical elements, each of which symbolises a fundamental element of our vision. These are the foundations of how we connect; to our wines, with the world, and with you.
EARTH
Place, time
Earth symbolises our relationship with the land.
We are not owners but kaitiaki: guardians of the soils, the deep gravels, the dry riverbeds, the ancient life beneath our feet. We are custodians of geology, the machinations of time that form the building blocks of our place.
We farm so that vine roots can explore and mine these building blocks for their precious minerals, manifesting geology and aeons of time in our wines.
AIR
Life, soul
Air symbolises our commitment to nurturing nature.
We want our wines to have anima: a sense of life and soul. To achieve this, we farm and manage our vineyards organically without using any synthetic fertilisers, insecticides or pesticides. We use biodynamic principles to promote health, resilience and connections.
Our winery is a place of life and light, an extension of our vineyards and farming practices. We must use our skills and experience, our tools and equipment, our senses, to make extraordinary wine that manifests truths rather than manipulations.
WATER
Nourishment, connection
Water symbolises our commitment to making a positive impact.
We prefer to dry farm, relying on weather systems for rain and encouraging the roots to explore and mine the deep, dry soils of our place for the life beneath. We keep stock of what we take so that we can redress it with what we give back.
This goes beyond the natural world. It is how we nourish and care for our people and contribute to a thriving community. How we engage with the Treaty of Waitangi. How we celebrate culture. How we do business.
FIRE
Transformation, energy
Fire symbolises our deep-rooted love, our ambitions, our desire, our fixation, our obsession with wine.
We want to make wines you serve with dinner and tuck away in cool, dark places. Unconventional wines you want to share and covet in equal measure. Wines that connect. Wines so good your pupils dilate with delight. Wines you - and we - love to drink.
This is the light that leads us down the rabbit hole. It is the deep, primal need to spark the metamorphosis of light and energy into something we can gather around and share.
ÆTHER
Chaos, quintessence
Aether symbolises the phenomena we embrace.
It is the intangible and immeasurable pleasures of wine. It is nature and unpredictability. It is the shared experiences that connect us as a global species. It is art, culture, human spirit, the continuous pursuit of inspiration. It is how and why we ensure our wines evolve, and our relationships with land, people and biology deepen and strengthen.
It is our sense of wonder, and the questions that foment: How do we break free from archetypes? How do we lay the foundations for centuries more of this work? How do we embrace nature’s chaos and make exceptional wine from it?
It is the creativity that lies at the heart our our business, the portal through which we can capture and create wines that are full of energy, emotion and anima.
