June 13, 2025

Boulder Bay news & info autumn 2025

2025 Boulder Bay Harvest

We picked our 2025 harvest on 22 March. It was a challenging summer growth season. The rainfall figures went from 11mls in March to 455mls in April! You can understand why the timing of picking is everything.

Luckily, February and March provided almost drought conditions, and our grapes flourished. The sun shone, the birds were kept at bay, there was minimal rot and disease, and the grapes got bigger and better every day. Thirteen island neighbours and family handpicked 3,541kg of grapes with a brix (sugar) level of 25. It was our largest pick and our highest brix to date, leaving us excited about the wine we are going to produce from the harvest. As always, a big thank you to our Vineyard Manager Murray Reid for his dedication to the vineyard’s success.

Netflix ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’

Many of you may have viewed the Netflix Series ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ that was released earlier this year.  It tells a true-ish version of Australian scammer Belle Gibson’s story, which was, of course, based on a lie.  If you did view it, what you may not have noticed is that Boulder Bay’s 2023 Ruby Chilled Red made an appearance in Episode 2.  Boulder Bay’s first foray into film but blink and you might miss it!

Marsden Estate

After 32 years of running Northland’s largest contract winery and its recognised restaurant, Rod and Cindy MacIvor have sold Marsden Estate to the Mike and Shirley Endean Marsden Charitable Trust. It was on the market for a period of time, and there was a concern for local vineyards that Marsden would close leaving the area with no winemaking facilities. Marsden processes grapes and produces wine for 32 Northland vineyards and boutique wine labels, including Boulder Bay Wines.

Marsden Estate is in the process of expanding its facilities and in the future will showcase other Northland wines alongside the wines that its own vineyard produces. Boulder Bay was delighted to be asked to supply its 2024 Rosé to the Marsden Restaurant this summer which has been a great opportunity for us.

We thank Rod and Cindy for all the help and advice offered to Boulder Bay over the years and wish them all the best with their new endeavours. We are very pleased that our winemaker Justin Atkinson will remain with Marsden Estate and continue creating our wines.
www.marsdenestate.co.nz

Winetopia

In July last year, Boulder Bay Wines joined many other NZ vineyards at Winetopia which is NZ’s largest and most celebrated wine event. According to our database records, it is here that we met 280 of you.

At Winetopia we ran a competition for a night’s stay at The Duke of Marlborough Hotel including a dinner for two, and a visit to Moturoa Island to view the vineyard. The winner was Sandy from Katikati, who with her husband Bernard, visited us in November for lunch, wine tasting, story sharing, and a look around the vineyard and island.

For Boulder Bay, the main purpose of attending Winetopia was to increase the vineyard’s exposure. We created a colourful event space, met a lot of friendly people, and were pleased with the wine sales achieved. We had every intention of returning this year, but because of positive wine sales, do not have the stock to commit to this event. Our intention is to return in 2026.

www.winetopia.co.nz

Wishing you all the best from the team at Boulder Bay Wines

Loren and Paul