The Staete Landt Vineyard is designed to produce single vineyard, hand made wines with complexity through thorough use of clone, rootstock and soil variation. The winemakers carefully designed the vineyard around the styles of wines they planned to produce, not the reverse. Major focus is on the vineyard where healthy, balanced vines, will in turn deliver consistently ripe fruit with distinct Marlborough flavours.

The Marlborough Environmental Award 1999 was awarded to Staete Landt Vineyard for the successful implementation of an intricate irrigation design taking into consideration soil characteristics, grape varietals and scarce water resources. From an environmental perspective the implementation of the vineyard design proved to be an example for other future vineyard developments.

The vineyard's close proximity to the Wairau river, the main river in the Marlborough valley, produces a continuous airflow which keeps frosts away at crucial times during the grape growing season from budburst September/October through to harvest March/April. The combination of the location of the vineyard, the stony riverbed soils and the heavier soils on the southern part of the vineyard allow production of single vineyard wines with depth and different layers of flavours.

Four main varietals, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris were carefully mapped across these soiltypes in parcels which would give every varietal presence on both dominant soil types. By varying rootstocks and varietal clones a further focus was brought to bare on the distinct terroir. The vineyard is divided into 18 parcels.

In order to grow ripe healthy bunches of grapes with intensive flavours, the crops of the different grape varieties are kept low. This is controlled by very strict pruning practises, by bunch thinning and intensive canopy management.

Out of respect for the environment Staete Landt vineyard is also a member of a select group of winegrowers of New Zealand who have embarked on the Integrated Winegrape Program (IWP). All agricultural work has to take place in harmony with nature. Extensive guidelines and independent auditing of the vineyard practises are the chosen path to a very sustainable and organic approach of viticulture and winemaking.