MAMMOTH WINES

Mammoth wines, an authentic expression of New Zealand

Michael Glover, winemaker and owner of the New Zealand winery Mammoth Wines, is bound by a special passion for wine and his work. His experience began in the hills of Moutere Nelson in New Zealand when his parents bought vineyards on Gardner Valley Road in Upper Moutere more than thirty years ago, when Michael was fifteen years old. "Seeing the vines grow and then producing the grapes about four years later, I started to feel something special that led me to my adventure and journey into the world of wine."

After finishing his studies in oenology and viticulture, he travelled the world participating in the 2002 harvest in Italy, where he had the opportunity to rub shoulders with great winemakers, and then to Germany, Provence and Burgundy, before returning to Upper Mouter. In all the places he worked, he realised that the best wines have three things in common:

dry grown "Irrigation dilutes and denies the very character, expression and soul of the site";

organic farming 'I feel we should do the vineyard as if it were part of us. Nourish your soil... nourish your soul";

balance of the fruit, without adding sugar or acid "The 'greats' of this world established themselves long before a line of irrigation or a bag of acid could 'fix' a mistake."

Behind his words it is easy to glimpse Michael Glover's thoughts: for him, wine is magic, the expression of the thoughts of those who produce it, the soul of places visited and people met, but above all the most authentic and integral expression of a terroir.