Wiese Family Wines
Wiese Family Wines
Established in 2023, our aspiration is to express the wines of the Alexandra basin in a different way via our pet-nat range, but also by keeping it traditional (with a little twist) in our still wines, incorporating all the quality and versatility the sub-region has to offer.
Our Alexandra wines fall under our Vice label because making unique wine is our vice. (And also, our virtue!) It is this passion that has allowed us to explore the winemaking world and ultimately end up in beautiful, Central Otago.
Get to Know us
I, Petrus Wiese, hail from the northwestern part of South Africa, while Daiana Penizzotto comes from Mendoza, Argentina. Our shared passion for winemaking took us far from home, leading us to embrace the life of traveling winemakers. It was during the 2019 harvest in Sonoma County, California, that our paths crossed. From that moment, we knew our journey would be intertwined.
With plans to continue our adventure, we set our sights on Marlborough as our next stop before heading to Europe for the end-of-year harvest. But fate—and a global pandemic—had other plans. When COVID-19 struck, travel became impossible. Yet, New Zealand’s swift and effective response to the virus convinced us to stay and make the most of an unexpected detour.
Unable to follow our original itinerary, we took a different approach: we bought a van, converted it into a camper, and set off to explore New Zealand’s South Island. As we passed through Alexandra, something about the landscape struck a chord in both of us. “This reminds me of home,” we said almost in unison. So when the opportunity arose to settle in Central Otago—one of the world’s premier wine-producing regions (in our opinion!)—the decision was easy.
By 2023, we knew it was time to take the next step. We wanted to craft wines that didn’t just reflect the terroir of our sub-region but also told our story—wines with heart, personality, and a deep sense of place. And so, Wiese Family Wines was born
