Royal couple pay visit to organic winery

New Zealand organic winery Mahana Estates played host to Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, this weekend during a 12-day tour of the country.

HRH Prince of Wales touring the four-story, gravity-flow winery with Mahana’s winemaker Michael Glover

The Royal couple timed their visit to coincide with the Mahana Estate’s ‘From Source to Serve’ food and wine event, which showcased Nelson’s local produce, including wines, craft beers and cider, cheese and seafood.

Food and wine matching on serve included the 2015 Mahana Pinot Noir Rosé with miso and nori ora king salmon and lemongrass Mayonnaise, prepared by the chefs in the Mahana Kitchen.

Shedding some light on the topics of conversation during the visit, sustainability and organic wine production was high on the agenda.

“Her Royal Highness is president of The UK Vineyards Association, so a visit to one of New Zealand’s premier wine regions is very fitting”, said Mahana’s winemaker Michael Glover. “We were chosen as a venue for the event not only for the winery’s spectacular views across the Nelson region, but also because it is an organic, gravity-fed winery – which is of particular interest to His Royal Highness.”

The Royal couple are currently on a 12-day tour of the country, visiting seven regions in New Zealand and three states, and one territory in Australia.

“I talked to HRH Prince Charles about the transition to organics we went through in 2008, becoming fully certified in 2011 while HRH, The Duchess was sharing with me how she grew up with wine as her father, Bruce Shand, was a successful wine merchant”, revealed Mahana owner Glenn Schaeffer.

Mahana wines are available to the UK off- and on-trade via UK agent Hallgarten.