The grapes that go into Four Hawk Day wines come from our own vineyard in the Waihopai Valley. It began over twenty years ago when we were starting a family and chose to leave the city life to move back home, to give our children the chance to grow up in the gorgeous Marlborough countryside. Since the earliest days Tess, Leatham and Piers were helping to grow and care for the vines, and along the way we found out that the classic old world family-centered model was the best way to produce exciting new world wines. Four Hawk Day comes from a "hawk spotting" game the children would play on the ride to town, one or two were special, but to see at least four hawks was the best day possible. The label painting was done by Tess when she was nine years old. The first FHD wine was a typical clean fresh Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and now for 2013 we have added a Pinot Gris and a Rosé, with an aged SB and Pinot Noir to be released in 2014. With the 2012 SB we visited restaurants and wine bars to build a personal rapport with the owners and staff who are selling and pouring our wine. It is an enormously satisfying way to connect to our customers, which we intend to continue as we enter international markets.