The land speaks through our wine. How do we represent that on the bottle?
We worked with artist and carver Gareth McGhie (Ngāti Kahungunu) to find the answer.
Resembling the land, our connection to it, and the tradition of visual storytelling that reminds us where we come from, this is how we created the Tohu Single Vineyard wine labels.
Going analogue in the design process
Gareth McGhie (Ngāti Kahungunu) is an expert in iconography from Te Ao Māori, the Māori world, and many other cultures.
Known for his work in film and adornment, Gareth’s carvings connect the traditional with the contemporary. His collection of taonga celebrates our connection to the natural world and the forms we find familiar, beautiful, and poignant.
From his workshop in Wellington’s Moera, surrounded by birds, books, and bones, he laughs “I don’t even drink wine!”. But he explains the shared intention of carving and winemaking that brought us together for this project:
— Gareth McGhie“It always comes back to the land. It’s pretty clear to me that we are psychologically and biologically tied to the world around us.”
Listening to our stories about our history, the special nature of Whenua Awa, and the aspirations that have guided us to this point, Gareth started drawing.
Soon, his sketchbook was filled with our ideas for the three single vineyard varietals, which we discussed and adapted together as a team.
“I’m analogue,” Gareth explains, “I draw everything by hand, then I’m tracing, flipping, and increasing. We must have come up with at least fifty drawings. It’s not my land and it’s not my wine, so I’m not putting my direction onto it, I’m just the conduit.”
The honesty of Gareth’s practice made the design process purely about the wines and the distinct characteristics of the Whenua Awa vineyard.
Finding the right iconography
We aspire to make wine that’s an authentic expression of the land and what it means to be a Māori-owned business. That comes with conversations about what’s tika and pono, what’s right and sincere, to put on a wine bottle.
We were inspired by the kārearea, the native falcon, that hunts throughout the vineyards. Early designs with Gareth followed the symbol of the manaia, the spiritual guardian, soaring above the Awatere Valley.
In a deeper kōrero together, we concluded that depicting a sacred ancestral figure on the bottle was not right for Tohu Wines.
This drew us closer to the designs we are so proud to share:
We used an embossing technique that highlights the central motifs and resembles the traditional form of visual storytelling – whakairo, carving – that reminds us where we come from and where we’re going.
Here are the deeper meanings behind each label…
Marewa
The cyclical icon draws you in. Pick an outer thread, follow it inwards, and see that everything is connected. A Māori perspective on the ancient circle we all recognise to mean continuity and new life.
Marewa icon: The haehae whakarere circle with a rauponga whakarere background.
Designed by artist and carver Gareth McGhie.
It’s our most innovative design for a reason. Marewa, meaning to elevate, is distinct from the ‘blockbuster’ Sauvignon Blanc flavours that Marlborough is known for.
Demanding conditions, without intervention, has resulted in a wine that rises to the challenge to be truly of the land.
This icon, and its interwoven background representing the intimacy of sky and earth, is the question and the answer of innovation.
Together, we ask ourselves “why are we evolving?” and find consensus through the journey of doing things better, doing better things.
Tohu Marewa Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is a lifted expression from the highest terraces of the Awatere Valley.
Matangi
Matangi is the wind that sweeps through Whenua Awa, and we feel it in full force in our Chardonnay block.
The hikuaua spiral is created by the sacred three: past, present, future. Exposing and unyielding, the wind is our loudest teacher. As it limits and shapes the canopy, the vines have to strive.
Matangi icon: The hikuaua spiral with a radiating whakarare background.
Designed by artist and carver Gareth McGhie.
By accepting its inevitability and working with the wind, we get to enjoy the concentrated flavour in this elegant Chardonnay.
Tohu Matangi Single Vineyard Chardonnay is in reverence to the elemental lessons, held within the radiating four whakarare representing the seasons that shape each vintage.
One
Tapuae-o-Uenuku, our sentinel, watches over the Awatere Valley. Rain falls down the mountain, where it’s carried down the braided river, and is imbued up into One.
One meaning the soil.
One icon: The maunga koru icon with a haehae whakarare background.
Designed by artist and carver Gareth McGhie.
Our journey to be a symbol of Māori excellence takes us, literally, to our foundation. To the earth we walk on.
The triangle is our strength and the forces we must keep in balance. In selecting the grape varieties for our wine. In choosing the whenua ora practices that align with our worldview of restoring, protecting, and preserving the land for future generations.
Tohu One Single Vineyard Pinot Noir and its label represents our enduring commitment to the latticework of land, river, and sky that shapes us.
Locators for people and place
That’s what icons are. Whether in three dimensional forms like whakairo, carvings, or two dimensional forms like ta moko, tattoos.
We choose certain symbols – like these wine labels – to orient ourselves in the world and answer that big question: where do you come from?
“To adorn means to draw the eye towards. We’ve been adorning ourselves for 100,000 years. The first things were seashells, then animal claws and teeth. From the beginning, we’ve seen things in nature that we’re drawn to. Then we travelled vast distances to give them to others who liked them, too.”
— Gareth McGhie
Our Tohu Single Vineyard collection is the result of our enduring commitment to the land.
Ngā mihi nui ki a Gareth McGhie (artist and carver), Melanie Madden (Marketing Manager), Helen Milner (Brand Strategist), Rōpata Taylor, and our exceptional team of winemakers and growers.