Mélange Wines

About

Mélange Wines, by winemaker Harrison Eaton, is a micro-boutique producer in Marlborough that makes VERY small batches of wine. Read on to learn about Mélange from Harrison himself!

“The fruit we are working with across the various vineyards works out at about 1ha, so a very small amount! As far as the Mélange label is concerned, it was basically an idea that sprung from doing a small bottling of an experimental batch. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir (now known as Rougir), only 90 bottles were produced & I decided to name the wine Mélange (meaning “mixture” or “mish-mash” in French). The opportunity arose to play around with a small batch of Sauvignon Blanc the following vintage. A few months after being tucked away in barrel and tank, the wine was assembled and looking so good that I decided to bottle a small amount of it, as well as the next vintage of the Sauvignon Blanc/Pinot Noir blend. It was at that point that I decided that Mélange was going to be a very apt brand name for these wines to be a part of. The opportunity to be able to mix things up and play around with techniques that I had yet to utilise in the wines I helped make with Dad under the Eaton label.”

Harrison pairs his wines with songs, usually songs he’s been playing in the winery while making his wines. The songs he chooses reflect the journey that each wine has had from vine to bottle – highlighting the characteristics, high notes, low notes, different tones and the individuality/personality of the wines.

“Wine is its own art form and like all art, whether it’s music, poetry, a painting, it is all subjective. But that’s what makes the experience mean so much more, is that not one person shares an identical experience”.