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LOTHLORIEN winery
Introducing our exciting new label with the same range of award winning sparkling wines. New Zealand’s biggest selling feijoa wine. Available at good wine retailers, at the Matakana Farmers Market or order direct from us here at Lothlorien Winery.
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Thank you for your continuing support Lothlorien Winery ltd 09 422 5845 info@lothlorienwinery.co.nz www.lothlorienwinery.co.nz join us on facebook
LOTHLORIEN
Unwanted fruit a windfall for Lothlorien adventure Organic , from our trees to your table.
our trees to your table. A decision 40 years ago to plant feijoa trees on a newly-purchased property, in the Ahuroa Valley, could easily have been a costly disaster for the founder of the Lothlorien organic farm and winery Dale Demeulemeester. At the time, Dale and his then wife Sharon, both originally from Detroit, had only recently arrived in NZ. They had met a homesick Kiwi while travelling in Europe who had sung his country’s praises, talking of how cheap land was there. “We were looking for a farm and it sounded ideal,” Dale says. “We bought a 100 acres from the Brown family for $25,000 and settled down to begin an organic lifestyle.” Dale says they started planting feijoa, never realising that just about everyone at that time had a tree of their own. “There was just no market for the fruit, but after spending years caring for the trees, I just couldn’t pull them out.” Struggling to keep afloat financially, Dale says his stubborn streak made him determined to find some use for the fruit that no-one wanted, so he began drying, bottling and making feijoa wine. All three proved viable, but the interest shown by TV presenter Annie Whittle in the wine, settled the question of which product would be most saleable.
winery
Dale Demeulemeester and partner Jo in the house garden on their idyllic Ahuroa property.
“We suddenly found ourselves in the wine business, calling in every favour we could to get enough finance for our first release. We knew we had to sell it quickly to meet expenses so, once again with Annie’s help, we organised a music festival to launch the wine. “Bands like Herbs played and it was a huge success. Annie ran a seven-part
series on the farm, the story spread and the winery continued to grow. It’s now about three times the size of the initial venture.” Production started with around 25,000 (bottles) and peaked around 80,000, but now sits slightly under that, reflecting the current economic times. The winery still uses the same press
it purchased from Oldfields in Kumeu, when Logan Petley joined the operation. Today, Dale, Logan and two of Dale’s sons, Cy and Eli, own the winery equally, while Natalie Garlick manages the cellar. Lothlorien produces both a dry and medium wine, as well as a Reserve and a liqueur. It has won many national and some international awards, and although there have been approaches to export, Dale says he’s never seriously considered it. “Part of being organic is not to leave a large carbon footprint, so we’re happier just supplying the NZ market. Besides, while Lothlorien wines sell in stores all over NZ, the local people from Mangawhai to Orewa still manage to soak up one-third of all production.” There’s now about 1000 feijoa trees on the property and most are grown from seed to ensure they return the fullest flavour. The operation began making juices – from Poorman oranges or NZ grapefruit, and feijoa and apple, when Logan entered the business. Some of their fruit goes to Fonterra to make fruju ice blocks. “It was the peaches that gave Lothlorien its good name,” Dale says. “Some fruits continued next page
New Look Same Feijoa Wine Lothlorien have been growing organically for 40 years. Introducing our exciting new label with the same range of award winning sparkling wines. New Zealand’s biggest selling feijoa wine. Available at good wine retailers, at the Matakana Farmers Market or order direct from us here at Lothlorien Winery. Thank you for your continuing support Lothlorien Winery ltd 09 422 5845
info@lothlorienwinery.co.nz www.lothlorienwinery.co.nz join us on facebook
LOTHLORIEN winery
Organic , from our trees to your table.