Te Kano Estate

Call Directions

Te Kano Estate Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Te Kano Estate, Winery/Vineyard, 92 Felton Road, Bannockburn.

For the Chardonnay drinkers who chase texture, tension and that perfect flinty edge — the 2023 Landwalker delivers in ev...
22/05/2026

For the Chardonnay drinkers who chase texture, tension and that perfect flinty edge — the 2023 Landwalker delivers in every direction.

Layered and quietly powerful, this is a Chardonnay that unfolds slowly in the glass: struck match and white florals giving way to ripe stone fruit, grilled pineapple and citrus peel, all wrapped in savoury oak and crystalline acidity.

Drawn from our finest parcels across Bannockburn, Northburn and Waitaki, each subregion leaves its mark — tropical generosity from Bannockburn, mineral tension from Northburn, and elegant aromatics from Waitaki’s limestone soils.

Wild fermentation, lees stirring and careful oak maturation build texture and depth without ever losing precision. The finish is long, saline and beautifully structured.

A serious New Zealand Chardonnay with confidence, restraint and a very good dinner party ahead of it.

Te Kano Landwalker Chardonnay 2023 Awards + Accolades

94 Points, Excellent
93 Points, The Real Review
92 Points, Vinous
92 Points .suckling
17/20, Tamlyn Currin for Jancis Robinson

Chardonnay means a lot to us.Not as a supporting act to Pinot Noir. Not as a single house style. But as one of the most ...
20/05/2026

Chardonnay means a lot to us.

Not as a supporting act to Pinot Noir. Not as a single house style. But as one of the most compelling ways we can express the land we farm.

At Te Kano, Chardonnay is a conversation between site, season, clone, texture and time. Across Northburn, Bannockburn and Waitaki, winemaker Dave Sutton works with distinct parcels that each bring something different to the glass.

Northburn gives us altitude, schist, fresh acidity and flinty mineral line. Bannockburn gives depth, generosity, tropical fruit and structure from its sandy, devigourating soils and north-facing slopes. Waitaki brings limestone, chalky texture, lifted aromatics and elegance.

From these places, Dave creates many expressions.

Kin Chardonnay is vibrant, generous and made for gathering ~ ripe stone fruit, creamy vanilla, toasted bread and a fresh mineral finish.

Life Chardonnay captures the essence of our estate vineyards, walking a fine line between richness and minerality with yellow peach, pineapple, citrus, brioche and poise.

Bannockburn Chardonnay is rich, opulent and mouth-filling, shaped by the Jerome vineyard with peach, pineapple, fresh baked bread, toasted oak and hazelnut.

Northburn Chardonnay is precise, mineral and finely detailed, with citrus, white peach, flint, saline tension and a long finish shaped by altitude and schist soils.

Waitaki Chardonnay is fresh, aromatic and elegant, with tropical fruit, citrus, white flowers, chalky texture and beautifully structured acidity.

And at the pinnacle sits Landwalker Chardonnay ~ an estate blend of our best barrels from Bannockburn, Northburn and Waitaki. Concentrated and intense, with flinty and floral notes, stone fruit, pineapple, layered texture and structured acidity.

We believe Central Otago is a benchmark in the making for Chardonnay. Not because it imitates anywhere else, but because it has its own voice: bright, textural, mineral, precise and deeply expressive.

This International Chardonnay Day, we celebrate one variety in many forms ~ and the land, people and patience behind every bottle.

Shop Chardonnay or book a tasting via the link in bio.

The harvest may be finished, but this is when Pinot Noir starts telling the truth. 🍷At Te Kano, post-vintage is where yo...
20/05/2026

The harvest may be finished, but this is when Pinot Noir starts telling the truth. 🍷

At Te Kano, post-vintage is where young reds begin their slow transformation — from vivid fruit and ferment to texture, structure and complexity.
Barrels are topped, parcels are tasted side by side, and every decision becomes part of the wine’s final story.

The cellar shifts from adrenaline to precision. Conversations turn to tannin profile, oak integration and site expression, while the wines quietly settle into themselves. It’s the season of patience, instinct and countless tastings straight from barrel.

For wine lovers, this is the hidden chapter of red winemaking — the part that shapes great Pinot long before it ever reaches your glass.

96 Points• Magazine • Our first release of the Northburn Land Series Pinot Noir. 
“A melange of black cherries, plums, ...
18/05/2026

96 Points• Magazine • Our first release of the Northburn Land Series Pinot Noir.

“A melange of black cherries, plums, violets and dried herbs set in a frame of graphite tannins and silky structure, with a disarming spice note to end.” 96 Points — Decanter Magazine

Our 2022 Northburn Pinot Noir comes from the lower slopes of the vineyard, where glacial soils, natural shelter and a beautifully balanced season gave us fruit with purity, depth and quiet power.
We hand harvested and fully destemmed the fruit, taking a restrained approach in the winery — long, gentle extraction and 14 months in barrel to build texture and complexity while keeping everything focused and true to site.

In the glass, it’s layered and expressive: black cherry, plum and violet at the core, moving into dried herbs, graphite tannins and a silky, structured palate, finishing with a lifted spice that lingers.

This is our first chapter of this expression ~ limited-release, site-driven, and an exact expression of Northburn crafted by our winemaker, Dave Sutton. 🍷

Pinot Noir, reimagined for the colder months.From the Northburn faces, where Old Man KĹŤwhai stands through wind, frost, ...
14/05/2026

Pinot Noir, reimagined for the colder months.

From the Northburn faces, where Old Man Kōwhai stands through wind, frost, and time itself, comes a different expression of Pinot Noir — one made for clarity in contrast.

Our Organic Blanc de Noir 2023 is 100% Pinot Noir, gently whole-bunch pressed and crafted with restraint to preserve purity, line, and mineral tension. Fermented in stainless steel and shaped on lees for subtle texture, it holds brightness without weight — a quiet counterpoint to winter’s depth.

Chilled or cellar-cool, it brings lift where you expect richness, and precision where you expect weight.

A wine that expands what Pinot Noir can be — beyond season, beyond frame.

Visit us at Te Kano Cellar Door or explore the wine online.

13/05/2026

If Chardonnay is your obsession, this is the kind of detail you’ve been looking for.

Chardonnay is a winemaker’s dream — but only when you stop treating it like a single expression.

At Te Kano, Dave Sutton works with one of the largest Chardonnay plantings in Central Otago spanning from Waitaki to Northburn to Bannockburn…and with that scale comes a rare kind of precision: soil diversity, multiple aspects, and a wide mix of clones — each parcel asking for something slightly different.

The work starts in the vineyard. Yield management, canopy decisions, and exposure are never uniform. Some blocks are picked earlier, leaning into higher acidity and tighter, brighter lines built for longevity rather than sheer ripeness.
In the winery, the detail only deepens. Press cycles and extraction are tailored parcel by parcel — adjusting pressure, rotation, and press fractions based on phenolic taste and structure at the press train.

Sulphur timing, barrel selection, coopers, toast levels, and fermentation regimes are all tools rather than templates. Even solids — NTU — become a defining variable. Higher turbidity in some parcels builds texture and mid-palate weight; in others, it can obscure the line entirely.

Lees management has evolved just as much.

Less stirring, more restraint — moving away from heavy bâtonnage, while extending lees ageing to build complexity in a slower, more integrated way. Getting more lees character but in a less extracted way.

It’s not about a house style imposed on Chardonnay.

It’s about listening to each parcel long enough to let it speak clearly.

Explore the range — and see what Chardonnay looks like when nothing is left to assumption.

Save this for your next Queenstown weekend.When I look up to the slopes above our Northburn vineyard, there’s one tree I...
11/05/2026

Save this for your next Queenstown weekend.

When I look up to the slopes above our Northburn vineyard, there’s one tree I always come back to — our old Kōwhai. It’s gnarled, weathered, and has lived through droughts and fire. And yet every spring, it bursts into this unapologetic gold, feeding the birds, the bees, and everything that still finds a way to survive here.

That tree is where so much of Te Kano Estate begins for us.

We are a family-owned estate, and when we first stepped into this land through the Lloyd family vision, we knew it wasn’t just about planting vines. It was about listening to what was already here, and asking how we could give something back. The Kōwhai became our guide. From its seeds, we now propagate hundreds of native plants each year — carefully growing them on site before returning them to the landscape. To date, we’ve planted over 5,000 natives and cleared more than 50 hectares of invasive species. It’s slow work. But that’s the point.

Northburn is not an empty canvas. It carries the marks of time — hand-cut water races, sluiced gullies, herringbone tailings from the gold rush, all woven through the blocks of vines. We didn’t remove them. We built around them. Because this place has a history that deserves to stay visible.

And then there’s the wine. Under Dave Sutton and our winemaking team, everything we bottle is shaped by these sites — Bannockburn, Northburn, Waitaki Valley. You can taste the tension of this place: the heat, the wind, the schist, the altitude. Nothing here is made to be simple.

When you arrive at the cellar door, Odessa will welcome you into the cellar door with warmth that feels distinctly southern.

Less than an hour from Queenstown, this is our home. And this is still very much a story in motion. 🍷

To all the mums and mother figures in the Te Kano team, and to all the mothers out there • happy Mother’s Day 🤍“A good ...
09/05/2026

To all the mums and mother figures in the Te Kano team, and to all the mothers out there • happy Mother’s Day 🤍
“A good wine, like a good mum, brings people together.”
Hope today is filled with good food, a full glass, and the people you love most. xx Rhonda + Annabel

“Bright and fruity, varietal and generously textured wine with a core of red berry fruit flavours. Raspberry then cherry...
07/05/2026

“Bright and fruity, varietal and generously textured wine with a core of red berry fruit flavours. Raspberry then cherry skin, some red apple then a berry compote quality. Dry with fine tannins and medium+ acid line, flavours build across the palate with each new sip. Well made with medium+ length. Lots of style and some poise. Best drinking from 2026 through 2030.” ok our 2023 Te Kano Kin Pinot Noir 2023. 🍷

Address

92 Felton Road
Bannockburn
9384

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+6439286951

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Te Kano Estate posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category