Floray Wines

About

“My wine journey began in 2008 when I arrived in New Zealand from Mumbai India to pursue winemaking. I was 22 and had done a Bsc. Biotechnology, with a strong science base I wanted to specialise in winemaking, hence I studied Bachelors of Wine Science in EIT. 

I think being an outdoor person I instinctively gravitated towards winemaking. I spent 10 years in Hawke’s Bay working for various producers in the region in multiple roles in the wine industry from vineyard to production through to marketing.

As a young aspiring winemaker you always want to work with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Two varietals that truly test your abilities. This took me to Oregon where I worked for Gran Moraine and learnt about how different clones of Pinot and soil profiles affect this beautiful variety. Then there is Riesling, basically as they say in Clare Valley, South Australia, ‘Everything Happens for a Riesling’, this is where I spent time as an Assistant Winemaker and where I saw some amazing boutique producers who gave the region an edge. I believe a boutique vineyard is in itself a case study, a long term experiment that involves a single microclimate and usually a single person’s unique winemaking approach. The consumers, “You” the subscribers, are the most important part of this case study.

Wine for me is no longer a job it is simply what I know and love doing. Karena (Floray’s wife) was born and raised in Central Hawke’s Bay. Being a farm girl she is right next to me in the vineyard never afraid to put in the hard Mahi. Which is what was required in 2020 when two days before Covid lockdown, she and I, with our two kids in tow, managed to pick just enough fruit to make Samā Rosé. 

Samā means “Time” in Punjabi, which is my native language. Just as in life, time is the most important ingredient in winemaking. Samā is a beginning of what the future might bring to us. It perhaps is a bookmark of where we are, at this time in our lives. It’s the efforts that I and Karena put into the vineyard that is trapped in a bottle, our story to tell for years to come. So past, present and future that can be smelt, tasted and experienced”.