At NZ's cutting edge

Tasmanian wine pioneer Graham Wiltshire has fond memories of the bright-eyed kid from Bridport who worked for him on the Pipers Brook site of Heemskerk Wines at the beginning of the 1990s. Fresh out of school, Peter Caldwell was not only as keen as mustard, his former boss remembers, he was smart and quick to learn as well.

"Peter showed more promise and had a greater feel for growing vines than any of the fifty or so novices I employed in all my years at Heemskerk. In fact, I like to think that I was responsible for launching him on his career," says the mentor of one of New Zealand's most talented and highly respected winemakers.

"I sacked him and told him to go to Roseworthy." 

Nowadays the senior winemaker at Martinborough's Te Kairanga Wines, Caldwell smiles broadly when he hears that tale being re-told. He bears no grudge when it comes to reminiscing about his brief employment at the old Heemskerk Vineyard. 

Indeed, those formative years in Tasmania's emerging cool climate wine industry not only equipped him well for his current position at the leading edge of New Zealand's Pinot Noir production, they number among his happiest and most productive learning experiences.

"It was a good place to cut my teeth, because when I eventually began studying viticulture at Roseworthy College, I found it was nothing like Tasmania," he says.

"That was all hot climate, grow-as-much-as-you-can stuff. It was a different world entirely. By contrast, everyone here at Te Kairanga acknowledges quality wine is made in the vineyard, and that's where our main efforts are directed."

Sharing winemaking duties with his French-trained wife Mayi is just one part of the multi-faceted role the man from Martinborough carries out for the Wairarapa region's third largest company. His key responsibility is that of vineyard management. It's the job he spent most time studying back in South Australia, and it continues to receive a large proportion of his time and energy. 

You can't have it any other way if you aspire to producing world-class wines from cool-climate varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

"The job of the winemaker is really to try to capture the flavours of the fruit and to retain those flavours in the finished wine. If you haven't got top quality grapes, you are pretty limited in what you can do," he says.

"I have complete control here, and I co-ordinate everything from pruning right up to the point where the wine goes into the bottle," he explains. 

"Half a day spent pruning or shoot-thinning is more valuable to me than doing cellar work. Doing vineyard work – at strategic times, in different blocks, and with different varieties – helps me understand the bigger picture."

Production at 'TK' in 2004 passed the 400-tonne mark. And it won't be long before recent expansions see the figure reaching almost 1000-tonnes. But listen to Peter Caldwell and you can believe it won't happen at the expense of quality.

"The most important thing about working in Martinborough is that people have established themselves here to make the best wine they possibly can," he says.

"They have a very strong feeling that there is a limit to what you can get from a grapevine. That doesn't include huge volumes of fruit or high crop levels."

That will be sweet music to fellow Pinot-phile and former boss Graham Wiltshire.

First published 30 June 2004: The Examiner

Last page update: 24 January 2026