French Farm Winery in Akaroa, Christchurch, New Zealand | Vineyards

Welcome to French Farm Winery, Vineyards, Akaroa, New Zealand. Located in a valley providing natural shelter, French Farm Winery and its 8 ha of Vineyards have their own microclimate. This attracted the first French settlers to the area for wine making in the early 1800s.

Since that time French Farm Winery has been the first to continue the wine making traditions of the French and in 1989 Vineyards were established in the French Farm Valley located on the western side of the Akaroa Harbour. This natural harbour was created by volcanic eruption, however the volcano has lain dormant for many thousands of years and nowadays provides a beautiful recreational harbour.

The Akaroa Harbour and valleys provide natural shelter giving French Farm its own microclimate. This aspect, along with the volcanic soil type, makes the location ideally suited to grape growing.

The vineyard is situated on the northern slopes of the valley thereby utilising the heat of the sun to it's maximum potential. The slope combined with the proximity to the coast leaves the vineyard frost-free during the growing season. The soils are wind blown loam which drains freely.

Chardonnay and pinot noir grapes were planted initially to provide estate wines for the restaurant. Varieties have since expanded to include sauvignon blanc.

Each year the vineyard produces approximately 14 tonnes of Chardonnay, and 7 tonnes of Pinot noir grapes. This is made into about 40,000 bottles of wine per year, but will increase to 80,000 bottles per year as future capacity comes on stream.