About
We’re a family business. Black Estate is owned and run by us, Nicholas Brown and Pen Naish, together with the Naish family. We own three small hillside vineyards in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury, and lease a fourth. Nicholas looks after the vineyards and wines, Pen runs sales and marketing, the restaurant and cellar door.
We live at Netherwood vineyard with our two children. Pen’s family are key supporters and investors in the project. Her father, Rod, a fifth-generation horticulturist from North Otago and her mother, Stacey, have been supporting the project since the beginning.
The story starts with Russell and Kumiko Black, who planted the original eight hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at what's now called the Home vineyard back in 1993. We bought the property in 2007 and kept the name. From there we started buying fruit from the Hull family's Damsteep Vineyard and from Netherwood (originally planted by Danny Schuster). We ended up buying both properties in 2012 and 2015.
In 2023 we began leasing Skypunch, a hillside vineyard beside Home vineyard, owned by our friends Julianne Liebeck and Conor Paton.
Four vineyards now, each with its own history and character, all farmed organically and biodynamically and certified with BioGro and Demeter. We keep to making single expressions from each vineyard since we genuinely find them to be special sites with unique soils and vine age, and each very beautiful.
We consider it a real privilege to farm this land in Omihi, at the top of Waipara Valley and hope the leave it with more natural abundance than when we came here. Our aim is simple even if the work rarely is: encourage natural balance and life at each site, watch out for the weather, and let an honest expression of each place find its way into the glass.
To do this, we make the wines traditionally and with a lot of care – with no additions except for minimal sulphur at bottling (sometimes none) and ensuring the wines are not fined nor filtered.
None of it happens without the amazing people around us. We're genuinely grateful for the friendships and the knowledge that have grown alongside us and the vines.
Here's to our current team:
Vineyard – Lucy and Dan, with cameos from Owen, Alex and Leo. The crew from Teece Family Vineyards come and help us occassionally in the growing season.
Winery – Nao.
Restaurant – Justine and Clio manage the restaurant and events; Josh and JR lead the kitchen; Jemma, Eilidh, Polly, Tom, Sylvia and Arthur make up the wider team.
We're also extremely grateful for our partners in New Zealand and around the world who help us sell the wines. You can find them and our wines here.
In Conversation
Chessie Henry caught up with Pen Naish and Nicholas Brown to talk wine, farming, family and what it means to really know a place.
Suppliers
Food and drink we love
We cook with what grows around us, and with people we know and trust. Here are some of the growers, farmers and makers whose food and drink ends up on your table.
Meat and fish
Black Estate. Our own regeneratively grown beef. It goes into the lasagne and pies, and prime cuts go on the menu while they last, often as carpaccio.
Southern Stations Wagyu. They source their wagyu from our neighbour's farm, two paddocks north of us.
Harris Meats. Meat processors in Cheviot, just 40 minutes north. They work with local farmers.
Lumina Lamb. Lamb from Canterbury farms, finished on chicory and other greens, which gives the lamb healthy omega-3 fats.
Awatoro. Wild venison from the Tararua, Kahurangi and Fiordland national parks. Culling wild deer helps the native bush, and no chemicals are used at any stage.
Ocean Speared. Fish that is spearfished or line-caught to order in Marlborough. There's no by-catch and no stress for the fish, and the result is tender, sustainable seafood.
Te Kouma Oysters. Pacific rock oysters from the Coromandel. They're fresh, clean and beautifully briny.
Bostock Brothers. Organic chicken from two brothers in Hawke's Bay.
Dairy and eggs
Karikaas. Dutch family cheesemakers in Loburn. We serve their two-year aged Gouda.
Little Farm Goat Dairy. Andrea makes fresh goat's cheese in Oxford, and you can find her at the Amberley Farmers Market.
Canterbury Cheesemongers. Champions of small New Zealand farmhouse cheeses, including Mercer pecorino from the Waikato and Little River.
Fruit and vegetables
Little Owl BD Farm. Michael Vourmard is an ex-chef who grows biodynamic vegetables by the sea, 35 minutes north, with deep respect for nature. His produce is on our menu all year round.
Streamside Organics. A young family growing organic vegetables at scale in Leeston. You might know them from their weekly vege boxes, or find them in some New Worlds.
Nicola's tomatoes from Amberley. The season is short, February to March, but they're delicious.
Black Dog Strawberries in Amberley.
Paul and Sue at Kumikos. They're our neighbours with nice accomodation and figs!
Citrus from the best organic citrus orchard looked after by by Page and Stu in Takamatua, picked by Pen's parents, Rod and Stacey
Pantry
Honey our own while stocks last!
Waipara Honey. Trevor collects honey from hives around the region. We use the comb in the restaurant and sell jars at the cellar door.
Finders & Keepers. Single-location honey from High Peak Station, under Mount Hutt.
Pinoli. Pine nuts grown in Marlborough. They're fresh, and far better than imported ones.
Hazel's Nuts. Hazelnuts from Rolleston.
Terrace Edge. Certified organic olive oil, delicious and local. When theirs runs out, we use Stony Grove.
Whittaker's. New Zealand-made chocolate.
Drinks
Coffee Embassy. The best Christchurch people, with a roastery and café in Christchurch that's worth a visit. They're a B Corp and buy from fair-trade growers, and they can trace every bean back to the farm.
Churton. A family-owned biodynamic vineyard in Marlborough. We pour their Petit Manseng, which is full-bodied. It starts sweet with ripe pear and citrus and finishes long with racy acidity, and it's very good with cheese.
Brew Moon. A family-owned brewery in Amberley, and one of the first craft breweries in New Zealand.
Hastings Distillers. The only gin and spirits we pour. They're certified organic and biodynamic, and their spirits are focused and delicious.
Thank you to all of them. So much of what makes lunch here good starts on their farms, orchards and boats.
