The Nelson Originals

South Island pioneers

New Zealand wine is now such an established global phenomenon that it’s easy to forget how young it is. Young enough, in fact, that the vines that began the story of commercial New Zealand wine were planted within living memory. And when it came to the South Island, one of the earliest pioneers was Seifried.

Hermann Seifried didn’t leave his native Austria with the intention of making wine. He had grown up among orchards, and had travelled to New Zealand in 1971 to make cider and perry for the New Zealand Apple and Pear Board. But three years of making wine in South Africa had cemented a love of grapes and wine and – though everyone said that Nelson, in the South Island, was too cool and too far south to make great wine, Hermann became convinced of its potential.

Supported by his wife Agnes, who he had met within months of arrival in New Zealand, they hand-grafted Nelson’s first commercial orchard in 1973, initially planting seven different varieties. Three years later, in 1976, they undertook their first harvest. 50 years later, though the South Island has turned from a vineyard desert into one of the world’s most exciting and coveted places to grow vines and make wine, Seifried remains Nelson’s flagship. Still a pioneer within its region, still very much a family operation in the hands of the Seifrieds, with three generations actively involved in the many day-to-day activities of growing grapes and making wine. All still overseen by Hermann and Agnes, tending the award-winning vineyards they were told couldn’t possibly exist.