Our Rabbit Island Vineyards are situated on a wide river flat. The soils are made up of gravelly sandy loam which marks the sites of Maori kumara beds (sweet potato) prior to European settlement in the early 1800's. The Maori transferred and spread fine gravel and sand over the land to provide suitable soils for their kumara plantings. Scrub was burned to give ash and charcoal which increased soil fertility and gave characteristic topsoil. This fertility is now considerably reduced due to modern farming. The soils are however very sandy and free draining. The water table is relatively high ensuring adequate underground water. These vineyards are about 1.5 kilometres from the sea, which helps moderate temperatures. Light cropping with the use of both leaf and fruit removal around the fruit zone allowed the sun to fully ripen and produce rich concentrated flavoured fruit. Several newer clones of Pinot Noir have improved the colour and flavour of this variety produced from our Ra