Founded in 1979, Te Whare Ra is the oldest boutique winery in Marlborough and since October 2003 has been owned and operated by Jason and Anna Flowerday. Te Whare Ra has a long-standing reputation for producing some of New Zealand's finest aromatic wines and we have some of the oldest vines in the region. The name which is pronounced “Tea Far-ee Ra” translates from Maori to mean "The House in the Sun".  
 
Our hands-on approach and the size of our operation here means that we are able to achieve great attention to detail in both vineyard and winery. This means that we can get the best out of our vines and this is reflected in the resultant wines.  Our winemaking philosophy is to produce estate-grown, limited release, hand-crafted wines which express "a somewhereness rather than a sameness".  We are passionate and uncompromising about producing wines with concentration, complexity, and texture whilst retaining finesse.

We produce Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and a Sauvignon Blanc (with fruit sourced from a family vineyard in the Awatere Valley) from our current plantings, and hope to introduce Pinot Gris and maybe Syrah in the next few years. The earliest plantings in our vineyard are some of the oldest in the region and these low-yielding vines provide us with a fantastic fruit resource.

The winery at Te Whare Ra was constructed from mud bricks, and our Cellar Door is above the winery tanks and fermenters so that you can see our vintage in progress. The view from the balcony is worth a look, as you have a great view over the vineyard and down the Wairau to the Richmond Ranges.