Off the beaten path

 In the back blocks of Hawke’s Bay, surrounded by native plants and sculptures, Tony Prichard of de la terre is turning winemaking into an art form.

words Jess Easton  |  photos Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media

Tony nurtures every part of the winemaking process with passion and patience, infusing each vintage that de la terre produces with a unique story.

You won't find Tony Prichard's wines on a supermarket shelf. You won't find his wines before judging panels either, hunting medals or looking for accolades.

Some of his wines, you won't even find on the list at his cellar door at de la terre, the Hawke's Bay winery he runs with wife Kaye and self-appointed winery dog and welcoming committee Gracie.

What you will find, however, when you finally track down one of his wines, is utter deliciousness.

With nearly 40 years in the winemaking business, including stints at Montana and Church Road, he's so adept and confident in crafting intricate and mouth-watering flavours out of grapes that he's more than happy to let his wines do the talking.

And talk they do. His Viognier will verbalise, the Aneis with enunciate and he’ll get his Chardonnays whispering in tongues of flint and zest. Tony’s Tannat, meanwhile, will sit you down by the fireplace, all gravel and gravitas, and patiently explain why there's more than one great red varietal grown in New Zealand.

It's almost like Tony decided a long time ago that making mediocre Merlots and perfumed Pinot Gris, like so many of his contemporaries, just wasn't that much of a challenge and he was going to test his mettle on exotic wines outside the box. Even more mainstream wines – like his mind-blowing EVB Chardonnay – are so finely crafted and deliberate that they couldn't possibly be confused for anything else but a de la terre.

Sampling the hand-labelled, hand-numbered wines at the cellar door.

Passionate and humble, a patient and engaged teacher, Tony likes to challenge established norms and turn popular opinion on its head. While others chase sales or even perfection, he's after emotion. He encourages each vintage he makes to tell a story about the soil it grew in, the sun that warmed it and the hands that formed it. And each vintage he strives for refinement at every stage of the winemaking process. 

This is winemaking as an art form. Hand-picked and handmade, Tony and Kaye even hand-label and number every bottle that comes out of their winery. “It shows that someone cares,” he explains.

Elsewhere on the premises, Kaye has turned her long food technology background into a thriving café. She laments, with a laugh, that Tony’s other passion – bending and welding steel into wild and spectacular sculptures of swooping eagles and giant dragonflies – is turning the place into a theme park.

If the theme is interestingly delicious, however – it seems like the couple have got it nailed.  

Jess Easton is a Tauranga-based lawyer and director and owner of St Amand events venue and Kitchen Takeover.