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Gordon Russell and Holly Girven Russell. Photo Credit: Richard Brimer.
Thirty-five years after Gordon Russell caught the Chenin Blanc bug, he's well and truly passed it on to his daughter Holly Girven Russell, along with her co-founders at a tiny Hawke's Bay wine label.
The Three Fates 2024 Chenin Blanc is a father-daughter collaboration, in what Holly explains as an attempt to respect the knowledge accumulated through a life in wine and carry it through with a younger generation.
"In essence, a celebration of the stuff you can't learn in wine school."
Gordon was introduced to Chenin Blanc when he joined Esk Valley in 1989, and went on to become a champion for the variety.
"I had no idea that Chenin Blanc would become such an integral part of my winemaking life and that I would still be working with it all these years later."
He says the 2024 vintage, "being one of the greatest of all Hawke's Bay vintages", was a great opportunity to work with Holly and her Three Fates co-founders Hester Nesbitt and Casey Motley.
"All the components fell into place to make a wine of the highest quality."
Three Fates began amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and the 2024 Chenin represents the culmination of four years of learning, growth and experimentation together, Holly says.
"The 2024 Three Fates x Gordon Russell Chenin Blanc is a testament to what happens when you blend tradition with fresh, new ideas - and when you make wine with people who share your vision."
Raised with a winery as a playground, Holly Girven Russell says her inherited wine story isn’t of landed gentry and a multi-generation estate. “What we have instead is a shared obsession, curiosity, and love for preserving place and season in a bottle.”
As chairman of the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association for the next two years, Gordon Russell expects to preside over some of the sub-region’s most significant developments.
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Vintage 2026 yielded excellent fruit for most New Zealand wine regions.
