the vineyard.

The Aurora Vineyard is located in the township of Bendigo, an old mining town in Central Otago just a little to the northeast of Cromwell and the shores of Lake Dunstan.

The vineyard measures 19 hectares of which the vast majority is planted in various clones of Pinot Noir. We have planted 6 different Pinot Noir clones - 10/5, 115, 116, 5, 667 and 777. This clonal variation provides significant complexity of flavour to our wines.

Other blocks in the vineyard have been planted with Riesling and Pinot Gris while the hottest terraces have been utilised for our Syrah plantings.

We are an accredited member of Sustainable Wine Growers New Zealand and are on the path to being fully organic.

Ripening Pinot grapes
Pinot Clone 10/5 under bird netting
From the Bendigo Hills to the Pisa Ranges
Across the vines to the Lindis Mountians
Our Pinot Gris vines
The Pisa Range
Riesling Block in Winter
Pinot Gris
Syrah Block in Winter
Lake Dustan meets the Clutha River
Hawkdun Range
The front entrance
Developing the Vineyard
the history

The Aurora Vineyard began plantings in 1998. It is named after one of New Zealand’s largest quartz reef’s – The Aurora Reef. This is located in the hills directly behind the vineyard. Our name also pays homage to the Aurora Australis-the southern lights which sometimes dance in the night sky above the vineyard.

The land was originally named South Chinaman’s Creek in recognition of the Chinese migrant workers who camped here when they worked on the Bendigo gold fields. In fact the unusual shape of our wine labels was inspired by the old gold certificates from this era.

The “five vines” represents the five founding partners and our firm anchor in the Bendigo soil.