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Pyramid Valley
North Canterbury, New Zealand4 wines4.0 avg
31
Mike and Claudia Weersing's North Canterbury cult project - Burgundian ideals, biodynamic, limestone, and some of the most intellectually serious Pinot and Chardonnay ever made in New Zealand. Now under new ownership.
Pyramid Valley was founded in 2000 by Mike and Claudia Weersing in Waikari, North Canterbury, on New Zealand's South Island. Mike, an American who had worked at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy, chose the site specifically for its limestone-rich soils - a geological parallel to Burgundy that almost nobody else in New Zealand had thought to look for. The Waikari Valley is warm, dry, and sheltered, with calcareous clay over limestone that drains beautifully.
Very small - around five to seven hectares of vines. Strict biodynamic farming (Demeter-certified). Extremely low yields. The philosophy was uncompromising: whole-cluster fermentation, wild yeasts, minimal intervention, Burgundian approach to site-specific expression. Two grapes only: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Each wine named after the plants that grew on the site before planting:
- Earth Smoke - Pinot Noir (fumaria, "earth smoke" plant)
- Angel Flower - Pinot Noir
- Lion's Tooth - Chardonnay (taraxacum, dandelion)
- Field of Fire - Chardonnay (from a parcel cleared by bushfire)
In 2017 the Weersings sold the estate to a group led by Steve Smith MW (of Craggy Range) and investor Brian Sheth. Mike moved to Tasmania to start a new project. Under new ownership, the biodynamic programme has been maintained and investment has continued; the transition was closely watched by fans who regarded the Weersing-era wines as among the most Burgundian and intellectually serious produced anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere.
Cult status, tiny production, prices that reflect it. Pyramid Valley's influence on New Zealand's fine-wine ambitions was outsized relative to its scale - it proved that the question was not whether New Zealand could make serious Pinot, but whether anyone would have the patience.
