Wine News – From NZ House and Garden, Imbibe Section:
Swift WINES
A colourful new stop: Hawke’s Bay has a new cellar door, with Swift Wines opening a bright, playful space on Mere Rd, Fernhill. Visitors can build a platter from the fridge selection and taste six wines. Pipi, a limited sparkling albarino, is also pouring, with only 1500 bottles produced. The venue, run by winemaker Lauren Swift and Henry Williams, is open six days a week through Summer. Visit Fun Hawke’s Bay Wines for Everyday Celebrations | Swift Wines ‘Thoughtful, dangerously drinkable and thought-provoking. No boring wines (or boring wine labels) here!’
Background
Husband & wife / business partners / drinking buddies / founders of Swift Wines in Hawke’s Bay.
Crowned the inaugural ‘NZ’s Young Winemaker of the Year’ at just 25, Lauren Swift has spent the majority of her life obsessing over grapes in their various forms. Growing up on an orchard in Marlborough, her first job was learning the fundamentals of grape growing (and picking — there was lots of picking) on a neighbouring vineyard.
A post-school European gap year was the push she needed to get her winemaking career off the ground, returning home to Marlborough for a role at Clos Henri Vineyard (owned by the illustrious Bourgeois family from Sancerre). A Bachelor of Wine Science at Hawke’s Bay’s EIT later, Lauren joined the Ash Ridge team and found herself heading up their brand new winery.
Throw in some more travel, including vintages in California & the Rhone Valley, and the time was finally right to go out on her own.
Lauren persuaded husband Henry to join the team, and together they officially popped the cork on Swift Wines in 2016.
