• "Lauren Swift has used Clone 15 fruit grown in the Bridge Pa Triangle and poured the third fill off the press into just one, second-use barrel - a barrel she fell in love with.  The wine was fermented with indigenous yeast on full solids and the lees were stirred daily for two months post ferment.  With intense, grilled grapefruit, roast cashew, spice and smoke aromas and a multi-dimensional palate layered with baked stonefruit, preserved lemon and showing solid, yet elegant acidity, it’s a bright, vibrant wine.  It was bottled unfined and unfiltered, yet it is clear and glossy.  Just 289 bottles were made." 

Swift Wines

“I love solving problems and encountering new challenges.”

Lauren Swift, the winemaker at Ash Ridge Wines, is a rising star in the wine industry. She is energetic and forward thinking, and totally enchanted by wine. Our conversation took place in the winery’s cellar door that features patio seating overlooking grapevines and olive trees.

Lauren grew up in Marlborough, a city south of Blenheim on the South Island. She remembers always working hard, first in the family’s apple orchard, and then after it was ripped out and replanted with grapes, in the new vineyards. Working in the vineyards coupled with attending weekly international food events with “WWOOFers” (aka Willing Workers On Organic Farms) from other countries, inspired Lauren to take a gap year in Great Britain to work with other 18 year olds with a farming background, and she had a great time.

“I returned with no plans but I knew I hated working in vineyards.” As fate would have it, her mother found her a well-paying job in a vineyard in Blenheim. The vineyard was French-owned, and the owners “devoted time and effort to education.” Lauren found much to her surprise that she loved the work! The next year she decided to study winemaking at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) in Hawke’s Bay. Her extensive vineyard experience gave Lauren a good grounding for her degree and made her competitive for part-time work pruning vineyards, which provided financial support while going to school.

Hawkes Bay