About Ra Nui
Sun . Soil . Passion
Ra Nui (meaning “Big Sun”) is a boutique sized wine company producing wine in the Wairau Valley, the heart of the world famous Marlborough wine region. Our small team are dedicated to producing hand crafted wines from uniquely favoured vineyards within the Marlborough region. We aim to produce wines full of flavour and intensity.
We have taken each Ra Nui vineyard from bare land through to completed vineyards. Each vineyard prior to planting had extensive soil tests carried out and after due consideration was planted with the most suitable clonal and rootstock combination to suit the particular soil type. Our Delta Hill vineyard is close planted with over 4,000 vines per hectare and is one of the highest altitude vineyards in Marlborough.
Our vineyards are primarily organic and we are a member of Organic Winegrowers of NZ. We believe that low cropping vines produce grapes with flavour and intensity. All vines are pruned to two fruiting canes only resulting in early ripening and low yields. Also most vines are hand harvested resulting in softly textured wines that are food friendly.
Steve Hotchin
Owner & Winemaker
Any business is only as good as the people. At Ra Nui we are committed and dedicated to growing the best premium, hand crafted wine.
A marketing graduate from Otago University, Steve started his wine career as an advisor to Allan Scott Wines. Over this period a passion for fine wine was formed resulting in Steve studying winemaking and grape growing at EIT Hawkes Bay and forming his first wine company - Mt Riley. In 2002 Steve sold out of Mt Riley with a view to starting his own boutique wine company and Ra Nui Wines was born. Steve travels extensively overseas, visiting wine areas and promoting Ra Nui Wines, the Marlborough region and the unique attributes of New Zealand.