Goldpine
Mt Rosa Wines
With the sun’s morning rays spilling over the hills of Queenstown’s Gibbston valley, we sat down with Guy and Ann Boanas, the long-time owners of Mt Rosa Wines. Drawing on more than 25 years of vineyard expertise, they shared interesting insights into their journey, the future of New Zealand wine, and the unexpected success of this past summer season.
With a glass of Mt Rosa rosé in hand, Guy shared the story of the 21-hectare vineyard that he and his family have cultivated over the past 25 years. Jokingly, he recalled how Mt Rosa began as a way for the couple to “subsidise their drinking costs”. Inspired by fond Queenstown childhood memories, Guy and Ann joined the Railton family in farming Mt Rosa Station in the nineties. With declining wool prices in 1999, they swapped sheep for vines, beginning a new chapter in winemaking. The tough, schist-filled terrain proved challenging for farming but ideal for growing grapes — a decision that paid off.
Mt Rosa Wines now grows mostly Pinot Noir varieties of grapes, including several mutations of the Pinot family. Other varieties they grow include Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Sauvignon Blanc. They use these different grape varieties to produce eight or nine different wine styles, such as rosé, Blanc de Noir, and Pinot Noir. Guy says that the topography of Gibbston Valley has direct influences on the wine they can produce. The cooler climate means they create more elegant, feminine Pinots and wines that are less fruit-dominated.
From their humble roots as Otago farmers, purchasing the land in 1996 and planting their first vines in 2000, to the recent construction of their new cellar door, Guy and Ann have transformed Mt Rosa into a success story, climbing from one peak to the next.
“We wanted to go farming in the area, but it wasn’t quite the farming I thought I was going to get into,” Guy said. “Our first wine in 2002 was a Sauvignon Blanc. We’d taken mature vines from Felton Road, transplanted them back here, and managed to produce 27 cases. I can tell you — it wasn’t good. But after a couple of years, those transplanted vines came right, and it’s been great ever since.”
Even after 25 years in business, Mt Rosa is still reaching new heights. Guy and Ann told us that this 2024 to 2025 summer season is likely the best they have ever experienced. “Over the last three to four weeks, we’ve never experienced anything quite like it. It’s been phenomenal. The number of people coming daily has exceeded our expectations,” Guy said. While he can’t pinpoint why there has been a surge in visitors and sales this season, his theories include increased interest in wine tourism in the area, more travellers from the United States, Australia, and Europe, and the dropping interest rates. He noted that they’ve been experiencing a significant increase in orders from Australia and that the business has been benefiting greatly from the rise in wine tourism, especially with the extension of the Dunstan Bike Trail being built in the area.
Mt Rosa’s continued success is a testament to not only the Boanas family’s hard work but also a team dedicated to the craft. The vineyards’ key winemaker, Dean Shaw, has been instrumental to that success, working with the team since Mt Rosa’s inception in the early 2000s. He is also a partner in the Central Otago Wine Company owned by famed Kiwi Sam Neill.
“Dean’s been making our wine since the beginning. He knows the vineyard as well as anybody and what it can do. We’re very happy with his work, we trust him implicitly to make the best wine possible from what we bring in each year,” Guy told us.
The business also employs 15 to 16 staff, plus contracted labour in the vineyard. A huge part of Mt Rosa’s philosophy is creating an experience enjoyable for everyone; from server to customer, he said. “The people that work here with us, we consider almost family. We want to make sure they’re looked after. Having people on board who care about the business the way we do is very important, so the business runs smoothly if we’re here or not,” Guy said.
What sets this winery apart is its commitment to hospitality, treating its vineyards and cellar door as a destination for visitors to enjoy the stunning Central Otago landscape, fine wine, and friendly service. “We consider ourselves to be a hospitality company, and we happen to sell wine as part of that process. Wine’s our reason for being, but hospitality is what we think gets people coming here. So that’s our primary focus; to make people feel comfortable and have a great experience when they come here.”
When considering the direction of the wine industry, the path forward is clear for Guy and Ann; the focus must remain on quality. “In terms of what the wine industry should focus on, in my view, is quality. You travel overseas and you see some of our wine. You might not recognise the label, but sure as eggs, it’ll be a second or third label of something existent here, and the price is very cheap.”
Guy said they are focusing on drawing people to the vineyards so they can enjoy the experience at Mt Rosa Wines, and through this organic experience extend their outreach.
“We don’t want to be a part of a numbers game like that,” he continued. “We’d rather concentrate on our marketing effort, bringing people to us and trying to get as much of that margin as possible. Because I don’t think you can live on a low margin. A couple of errors in judgment with who you deal with, and there’s a lot of money, a lot of margin gone.” He highlighted the risks of chasing volume at the expense of value, emphasising instead a strategy built on sustainable growth, providing a good experience, and making the most of existing resources.
For anyone planting or replanting vineyards today, their commitment to quality will shape the future of the industry, Guy said. He suggested that the focus should first be on nurturing and maximising the value of what’s already in place, focusing on quality over quantity.
From a sustainable point of view, Mt Rosa is a member of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, and Guy and Ann’s son George is a passionate conservationist who has planted close to 1,000 native trees on the property. Currently, Gibbston Valley has low numbers of native flora, so finding out which plants were natural to the area was a challenge, George said. “There isn’t much native flora around to know what to establish or what natural environment used to be here. So, I planted a variety to see which ones worked,” George explained. Bird life has started to return to the natives around Mt Rosa, and Guy said they hope more will return as the trees grow. “While my interest is more from an ecological restoration perspective, there are benefits to it from a viticulture perspective. It helps create an ecosystem of beneficial insects and birds and helps to manage pests,” George said.
With the coming extension of more bike trails through the area, the future looks positive for Mt Rosa Wines. Guy and Ann hope to expand into providing onsite accommodation, and on the winemaking front, will be looking for more cool-climate grape varieties to extend their portfolio. With the future bright and busy, the Boanas family and their hard-working team are poised to build on Mt Rosa Wines’ legacy as a premier destination for experiencing the best of Central Otago’s wine country.
