Julie and Adrian Collins purchased their Braemar Road property in 1998 for a lifestyle change; this is what led them to consider the viability of growing grapes for wine.
Adrian completed a viticulture course when the couple first purchased the property on Braemar Road and Julie completed a paper in tourism through Massey University.

Their vineyard, Braemar Estate is situated close to the foothills of the Manawahe Hills and is overlooked by Mount Edgecumbe, otherwise known as Putauaki.
The couple have two young children Katya, 11, and Sophie, 9, and purchased their 6.47 hectare property knowing that they were in a great place to raise children in the future.
Standing on it's own
Braemar Estate was established in December 2009 and is the only commercial vineyard and wine sales business in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
It's their vision and innovation over the past 12 years has got them to where they are today.
The vineyard consisting of 1000 chardonnay grapevines in an area of about one acre was planted in two stages between 2001 and 2002. The vines grew and the first grapes were handpicked in 2004 and 2005, but these limited harvest years were set aside to find a good quality winemaker.
Adrian and Julie knew that their skills did not extend to winemaking despite their best efforts.
The couple purchased an Italian grape press in Blenheim in 2004. This was purchased as a manual press, but by 2005 Adrian had modified it to make it hydraulic.
'We added a de-stemmer to the pressing process in 2008; the de-stemmer stops a large quantity of stalks and leaves going into the press and greatly contributes to getting a better quality grape juice and more efficient press,” says Adrian.
Bird proofing
Side nets were used in the beginning but birds were finding many entry points to get at the grapes. They now use overhead nets which are easy to apply thanks to Adrian's modification to his tractor which lifts the nets over the top of each row so that they are easily applied. The nets are then sealed underneath using bread clips. However, the birds continued to damage and consume part of the crop as they could land on the side of the nets and reach some bunches. Julie found some old black irrigation pipe and chopped it into lengths then sliced a ‘V' into each end using a utility knife.
The pipe could then be threaded into the nets, but hooked at each ‘V' to push the nets outwards away from the grapes. The nets remain moveable enough with the net spreading system to allow the tractor or electric vehicle to pass between each row. 'Our innovations and inventions were so simple, but all of a sudden we'd doubled our yield.
'All of the modifications to machinery and their quality improvements have helped,” says Julie.
'It has been a lot of fun getting the business off the ground and making a success of it. 'It is a business which lets you work outdoors in the fresh air, sunshine and gentle rain which has a real therapeutic effect on the soul and keeps you connected with the earth.”
The boutique vineyard and winery has gone from bare land to a business that produces 2000 litres of Mount Edgecumbe Chardonnay a year.
'We have learned a lot along the way.”
Making a call
This year, the couple decided not to harvest as they had harvested a bumper crop the previous year. They also made a drastic decision to remove 300 vines in order to balance supply with demand, reduce maintenance costs and give more attention to detail to the vine growing process.
'We only need to produce 1000 litres a year, so we can reduce the number of grape presses and harvest and focus on quality rather than quantity.

The Mt Edgecumbe Chardonnay the Collins' produce at Braemar Estate is mildly oaked but still fruity. Julie likens the chardonnay as having a similar lightness and aromatics of a sauvignon blanc wine. Non-chardonnay drinkers are pleasantly surprised by the product. The wine is produced by German winemaker Horst Hillerich at Ohinemuri Wines in the Karangahake Gorge.
'He requires us to get the grapes to a minimum sweetness of 3brix before harvest as he does not believe in adding any artificial sugar to the wine making process.”
The wine is crafted using traditional milo lactic fermentation with a slight hint of oak.
Texture and taste
Julie says this gives the wine its pleasant creamy texture whilst maintaining aromas of peach and citrus.
Harvest time is usually at the beginning of April, labourers are hired during the picking season and friends also help out.
'We usually get kiwifruit people to come in and pick because we are out of sync with the kiwifruit harvest and they do a really good job.”
The grape juice is chilled after pressing at the Braemar Road property and the wine is then delivered to the winemaker.
'We deliver the wine to Horst, he does his magic and about nine months later the new wine is born and ready for collection.”
The wine is cellared for one to two years and once it has reached its required level of maturity and flavour it is offered for tasting and is marketed.
Not just wine
As well as producing a top quality chardonnay, the couple are looking for ways to expand their business in other areas including truffles and homemade citrus preserves. They are also considering growing the grapes organically.
Julie says people are interested in truffles and because of this decided to plant 600 oak and hazelnut trees in the hope the fickle crop would yield one day.
'We can expect to have truffles in six-100 years time. It's an experiment and we might be lucky with this venture in the future.
'If anything, we'll have a nice forested area and have plenty of firewood.”
Julie believes there is a chance that truffles will flourish on their property as they have benefitted from the truffle industry's research and technology. There are a few successful truffle producers in New Zealand and one of the most successful truffiere is in Opotiki which boasts similar climatic and soil conditions to those found on Braemar Road.
The couple want to be seen as credible and a serious addition to the local tourism industry. They offer informative vineyard tours and wine tasting at Braemar Estate.
'We enjoy having tourists come and visit and showing them what we do here.”
The couple are part of a cluster group of local producers in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.