Altschwager & Kenneally

Tapi is a label of Altschwager Kenneally, a New Zealand and Australian wine company owned by two couples who are experienced winemakers and the best of friends. They say what brought them together in business was “a shared goal to raise the standard of winemaking.”

In their own words, their story includes “seven years, a cross-Tasman relocation, four kids, two dogs, a couple of chooks (chickens), and plenty of chaos.” They share a commitment to sustainable viticulture and small-batch production. Respect and honor for the land is at the heart of their business.

Tapi produces its high-quality, sustainable wine in Marlborough, the center of New Zealand’s wine industry and one of the new world’s premier cool-climate wine regions. The name comes from snow-topped Mount Tapuae-o-Uenuku, Māori for “footprint of the rainbow.” Mount Tapi, as the locals call it, rises 9,645 feet above the region. It is the highest peak in the northeast of New Zealand’s South Island.

Tapi’s Wairau Valley vineyard below the mountain is home to true cool-climate viticulture and winemaking. The fruit comes from several hand-picked, organically-certified blocks throughout the Marlborough Valley. All processes are hands-on.

The region’s main valleys, Wairau and Awatere, are bordered by the Richmond Ranges and Wither Hills, creating valleys of vineyards enveloped by dramatic mountain ranges, lush forests, and the beautiful turquoise ocean. Winters are bitingly cold and springs are frosty, while the autumns are crisp. Balmy summers are enriched with steady rainfall. The fertile, gravelly soils are stony, deep, and alluvial.

The winemakers at Tapi say they are grateful to be doing what they love and to be making wines that they believe in.