Women in Wine: Jane Cooper and Alexia

Her fruit comes from a relatively unusual place for the Wairarapa, with Manuka Flats vineyard planted in the lee of the Tararua Ranges, 15 minutes’ drive north of Greytown, rather than the more eastern sites, closer to the coast, typical for the region’s vineyards.

Then there’s the cornucopia of grape varieties planted, including Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Gamay, Grüner Veltliner, Lagrein, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Riesling. “I want to make a diverse range of wines because we use a narrow range here in New Zealand and we need to innovate, especially with the change in climate that we are dealing with,” Jane says, noting that the past four years have been a roller coaster of climatic changes, with warmer, wetter, drier vintages, along with lower crop levels.

Climate challenges aside, Jane is keen to push boundaries. “We really want to make some of the best wines in New Zealand and to do that we need to be creative, innovative, making different styles and grabbing people’s attention,” she says. “As members of the wine industry we need to be innovative for many reasons. At the moment we are so reliant as an industry on Sauvignon Blanc that we need to branch out.”

Manuka Flats was planted in 2007 by Julie Collins and Simon Dawson, a chemical engineer who had investigated soil maps and weather data in the early 2000s. “I really enjoy making different styles of wines from different experimental grape varieties, which made this particular vineyard work well for us,” Jane says. “Because Simon and Julie were so forward thinking that they decided to plant some varieties that do not really exist in a mainstream way in New Zealand.”

The soils of Manuka Flats Vineyard are the same as those found on the Martinborough Terraces, with Ruamahanga stony silt loam offering free draining properties highly valued in this part of the winemaking world, particularly given the increase in wet weather events. Weather patterns have changed over time at the Manuka Flats Vineyard, with less windswept rain off the hills now, and also fewer frosts, Jane says. “We have a bit of a backup plan with all these different varieties because we don’t know what’s coming, in terms of weather.”

Simon and Julie retain ownership and management of the site, while Jane and her partner in wine and life, Lesley Reidy, oversee the vines. “It was important to me to have some high-level input into the way the vineyard is managed,” says Jane, whose plans to become a lawyer were disrupted by a visit to Te Mata Estate Winery in Hawke’s Bay. She completed her law degree at Victoria University then studied viticulture and winemaking at Lincoln University in 1991, going on to work in New Zealand and overseas, building her reputation as winemaker and wine judge.

Jane was working in Nelson when Alexia began as a side hustle in 2000, and continued the brand when she joined Matahiwi in northern Wairarapa in 2004, as General Manager and Chief Winemaker. Alexia was put on ice in 2012, when she and Lesley had their second child, but resumed in 2017, after Jane left Matahiwi. “We also then started planning to have a winery in the middle of Greytown,” she says. “I remember a wine speaker a long time ago saying: ‘Where you really want to be is where you want people to come to. You can get your grapes from anywhere, but if you want to be in a place, make it somewhere that people love coming to.”

The winery and cellar door were opened in 2020, sitting comfortably down the end of a long road with a mix of residential and industrial neighbours. “We get fantastic support from the locals but it was a challenging time to open,” Jane says. “At the time we had an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old, and the winery site was not developed, so the children played in the carpark for the whole vintage. It was pretty traumatic trying to establish a winery that year, and it was thanks to the support of friends that we were able to make it work.”

This year Jane produced Chardonnay for the first time in four years, and also made a dry co-fermented white wine from Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris and Riesling. The vintage was larger than 2023, she says. “Last year was a disaster so we did a very small vintage and so this year we made a little bit more wine. We would like to make more overall so that we can grow sales here at the winery, where we serve food at the cellar door.”

The biggest production at Alexia is Rosé, made entirely from Pinot Noir. Gamay is also showing promise, as are Grüner Veltliner and Lagrein, a northeast Italian variety which has a characteristically deep colour intensity and smooth tannins, making a medium bodied red. Asked which of the myriad varieties has the most potential and Jane’s immediate answer is Chenin Blanc.

When she was interviewed for this story, Jane was planning for a trip to Japan to judge for the first time at the Japan Wine Challenge. It’s a long way from Greytown, physically and metaphorically, but both places have Jane Cooper’s heart; one for its close-knit community, the other for its innovation, creativity and spark.