Huntress Wines is an up and coming boutique producer in the Wairarapa. Jannine Rickards, winemaker and founder, is making very small batches of Pinot Noir and Rose, and with some exciting ideas up her sleeve, is a producer to keep an eye on!

Jannine experienced her first vintage in Hawkes Bay 2003, since then she has done many overseas harvests – spending time in Ata Rangi, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Adelaide, Gisborne and Martinborough. Her passions are hunting with her partner Mick, permaculture, organics, growing and sourcing food to feed their family, friends and themselves. 

“The theme of Huntress is related to my love of the bush and the coast. The image has been split into two and the coastal image which has White Rock from the Wairarapa coastline depicted in the background and a kete with kaimoana in it. I used to scuba dive and now just free dive, love to fish and forage. With the Pinot Noir label I have more of a camping scenario which is Mick and I in the winter, we both love to cook and use everything of the animal. The leg in the tree expresses my attempts at curing, camp fire with a cast iron pan bubbling away, the tree leaves are the matai which the pigs come down in autumn to forage on the berries that start dropping. The Keruru, likely my spirit animal if I come back as a bird. So everything on the label has a symbolic meaning to me, I was close to tears when they showed me the label design! They also incorporated my toanga (bone carving my family gave me years ago) on the back label. It represents ever changing and diverse journeys.” – Jannine Rickard.