Alex Craighead Wines
New Zealand
Kiwi raised winemaker Alex Craighead founded the Kindeli Wines label alongside his partner Josefina Venturino (a landscape architect from Argentina). Drawn to low intervention winemaking, there wasn't a lot on offer in New Zealand, so they began to experiment with zero sulphur wines in 2013. What began as a hobby soon became a business, and in 2016 they bought an existing organic winery and vineyard in the North West of New Zealand’s South Island. They have been focussed on ensuring maximal biodiversity, using cover crops, natural fertilisers, and allowing sheep and cows to graze the plants surrounding the vines. Craighead’s winemaking process is an exacting one and includes loads of innovative measures that prevent nasty microorganisms from spoiling the wine but don't involve chemicals and additives that compromise character and taste. The finished wines are not fined or filtered, and are corked by hand using Noma Corks (which are made from recycled sugarcane and are carbon neutral). Both the red and white Kindeli wines are really “living” wines and will evolve from every tasting.