Theo’s philosophy in the winery is to create wines of character and quality through a policy of watchful, non-interventionist winemaking.

Our wines are produced from contracted sites carefully selected for their particular mix of varietal, topography, soil and microclimate – creating high quality, site-specific wines of individual character and drinkability. This approach is styled on the negociant houses of Burgundy and the Rhone Valley in France, where the careful selection of non-estate-grown small parcels of fruit for winemaking is a long-held tradition.

Attention to detail is key. We work closely with each grower to ensure that vines are cropped low and managed sustainably, guaranteeing the best quality fruit possible from each vineyard site. These are exceptional wines from exceptional regions.

Theo Coles is the winemaker and viticulturalist for Successors. After completing his Bachelor of Science at the University of Canterbury, he went on to study Viticulture and Oenology at Lincoln University in 1999. Since then, he has travelled the wine world, working vintages in a number of new world and old world regions – including Marlborough at Wither Hills, Bordeaux at the legendary Chateau Leoville Las-Cases, Victoria at Tahbilk, the Rhone Valley at Chateau de St Cosme and Domaine Francois Villard, Alsace at Maison Kuentz-Bas, and Brunello at Tenute Silvio Nardi.

Since the 2002 vintage he worked as winemaker at Daniel Schuster Wines Ltd, where he gained a healthy respect for and understanding of the vineyard, and of Omihi Pinot Noir. He is also the Central Otago winemaker for High Plains Wine Co. Ltd.

These experiences have inspired Theo’s philosophy in the winery, which is based on creating wines of character and quality through a policy of watchful, non-interventionist winemaking. He uses a combination of new and traditional techniques and technology to allow the fruit to become wine. Theo focuses on allowing the vineyard character to shine through to produce complete, balanced and unique wines – this is reflected in Successors’ aim to produce a range of vineyard designated wines from each of the varieties and sites in our range.

Theo’s passion lies with the Northern Rhone wines made from Syrah, Viognier and Roussanne, and he firmly believes Omihi Rise has all the right attributes to make these varietals work.