Look out, the Albariño Brothers have just gate crashed the NZ wine party.

“The Albariño grape has found a new home in Aotearoa - New Zealand, and the wine world is about to find out.”

The Albarino Brothers is a kiwi wine business focused on creating the most delicious Albariño wines from the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions and taking them to the world. Their first wine launched in September 2024 and has made a big splash. Albariño Brothers is featuring in great restaurants and wine stores across the country.

These three guys became friends through their involvement in the NZ Wine Industry. Soon after, the Albariño Brothers was born. Ollie Powrie, Shaye Bird and Ant Saunders all share a passion for Albariño. The other thing they have in common are daughters, 6 in total!

Ollie has been raving on about Albariño for a few years now. If you have met him, you will know! His background is in winemaking and viticulture and, with Shaye’s passion in wine sales, and Ant’s wine production and exporting expertise, they are very excited to be soon launching their first vintage.

Ollie was lucky enough to work for Sir George Fistonich at Villa Maria Estate, and it was Sir George who first planted Albariño vines in the Hawke’s Bay. Ollie soon met Gisborne’s Doug Bell, the first Albariño grower in all of Australasia, and that was followed by a meeting with George and Mahala Reynolds, a young couple keen to plant Albariño on their beautiful site in Gisborne.  In a wonderful way, both Doug and George are now growing and supplying their exceptional grapes to the Albariño Brothers for the very first release.

Shaye was born into the wine industry. Back in 1933, his great Grandfather started Glenvale which went on to be Esk Valley Wines. HIs Grandfather & Father were also winemakers and grape growers, and Shaye had every intention of following in their footsteps. However, moving to Europe, he fell in love with the hospitality industry. After a 10-year career around the world, he’s returned home to Hawke’s Bay. Now, very much involved with wine sales, Shaye sees a real shift in consumers’ demand for unique wine experiences - Albariño does exactly that.

Ant loves producing wonderful New Zealand wines and exporting them to the world. He has definitely noticed that there are a number of buyers wanting to be excited by something new and different from NZ. “It has been incredible seeing how people’s faces literally light up when I mention the Albariño Brothers project. They know the grape variety but are intrigued by what a version from the South Pacific will offer. It really ignites the imagination!”