Situated to the west of Blenheim, the Delta Farm was first established in 1846 by Constantine Dillon. The land went through numerous transformations before being purchased in 2000. It had served as a dairy, a sheep farm and because of the splendid elevation of the hills, an airstrip all prior to the creation of Delta’s flagship Pinot Noir vineyard. The shape of the original Delta vineyard is very similar to the symbol for the capital Greek letter 'Delta'; hence the name given to this site on detailed topographic maps of the area.

As the new Dijon clones of Pinot Noir came into production in Marlborough, it became apparent that the best quality grapes were coming from vineyards planted on clay soils in the Southern Valleys of the Wairau. The clay soil, combined with the elevation of the vineyard and the factors that make Marlborough such a successful viticultural region - sunshine, warm days, the excellent quality of the light, cool nights and constant ventilation - all combine to make this site ideal for the production of top quality Pinot Noir.

The Delta Wine Company has found that the Dillon's Point and Lower Wairau area produces Marlborough's most intense flavours in Sauvignon Blanc. The Dillons Point sub-region has slightly cooler summer nights, deep even soils with high levels of available minerals, and incredible drainage due to sand from an ancient riverbed lying beneath the soil. Historical flooding deposited nutrient rich silts, which in turn created fertile free draining soil abundant in micronutrients. These soils are ideal for the production of Delta’s expressive and weighty Sauvignon Blancs.

Based in New Zealand’s North Island, our Hawke’s Bay vineyard is the ideal spot for producing our complex and flavoursome Merlot, where fruit is sourced from our vineyard within the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing DistrictR.

The Ngaruroro River flooded this vineyard area in 1876 and left behind an expanse of gravel, stones and sandy alluvial soils. This distinct combination along with high sunshine hours, humidity and low rainfall means the gravel soil retains warmth and encourages optimum ripening for our Merlot grapes.

Our Hawke’s Bay vineyard has ideal ripening conditions for achieving the rich plum and cocoa powder tannis displayed in our Delta Merlot.