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Stafford Lane Estate is on the Moutere Highway 8km from Richmond on the Waimea plains. The property was named after Edward William Stafford, 3 times Prime Minister of New Zealand, who owned a large amount of land here. He built Stafford House, which is near by, and the lane that ran to his house is on the boundary of our property. It can still be seen in places. The label represents Stafford lane, with the vineyard posts leading to the Mount Arthur mountain range, which is the tail end of the southern alps in the background. The Stafford Lane Estate label was established by the previous owners but it was never widely marketed.
Stafford Lane Estate is 10ha in size with a large olive grove producing pickled olives and 11 varieties of olive oil and 1500 Feijoas trees. We sell the Feijoa fruit domestically and overseas. Until the winter of 2004 the rest of the property apart from the vineyard was planted in apple and pear trees. The 1/2ha vineyard Doug and Georgie Simpson planted in 1986-87 has Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Riesling grown on cordons.
We bought Stafford Lane Estate in 2001 and have made huge changes, including planting another 1/2ha in Gewürztraminer and Riesling in 2003, and in the winter of 2004 we removed all the pear trees and apple trees and planted 6.5ha in more Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. In the winter of 2005 we planted Montipulciano and Pinot Blanc on another 1/2ha.
In the late autumn of 2007 Television New Zealand –TVNZ- visited Stafford Lane Estate to make a documentary about our property. The producer Julian O’Brian was interested in the diversity of Stafford Lane Estate. The program features our main crops of Feijoas, Olives and Grapes. The program "Country Calendar" can be viewed on www.tvnzondemand.co.nz from the 18th August 2007.
In 2008 Australian Broadcasting approached Stafford Lane Estate about the making of a television program called "The Chef and the Cook", featuring Feijoas. Simon visited Stafford Lane Estate in late May 2008 to film the episode. It was shown on the ABC network in Australia in August 2008.
In 2009 we decided to change our wine making facilities. Our wine is now made at Torrent Bay Vintners by Justin Papesch. We have also changed our hours of opening to: Open Labour Weekend to Easter Weekend, Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 5pm. Closed Mondays. Open by appointment only during the winter months.