Ko wai māua? | Our Story

The name Te Huringa speaks to cycles, a turning point, a transformation — the moment one path becomes another.

In wine, there is an inherent rhythm to these cycles. The turning of the seasons, the growth and dormancy of the vine, the movement from vineyard to vintage and back again. It is a process deeply rooted in relationship with whenua — an understanding of place not as something static, but as something living, changing and continually shaping what comes from it.

For Ben, Te Huringa also speaks to the turning points that have shaped his journey through wine.

The first came during his time in Chablis. Immersed in the vineyards and winemaking of the region, he discovered a deeper love for wine and a growing conviction that the wines he made should speak clearly of the land from which they came. He left with a promise to himself: to keep moving forward in wine, always striving to make wines that deeply reflect their place.

Another turning point came when Ben stepped away from winemaking for a year to immerse himself in te reo Māori. Returning to his language and deepening his connection to his whakapapa and culture opened new ways of thinking about whenua, time, relationship and the growing process. From this came a whakairo — an idea taking shape — of how these worlds might come together.

Then, in 2023, Ben and Sara met among the vines of Martinborough. Their meeting became another turning point. Together, they have encouraged one another to keep pushing creatively, exploring ideas and finding ways to bring those whakairo to life.

Te Huringa is the result of these turns, but it is not the end point. It is an ongoing haerenga (journey) — shaped by people, place, season and circumstance.

  • Ben’s path through wine has taken him across Aotearoa and overseas — from Waiheke, Marlborough and Martinborough to Tasmania, Sonoma Valley and Burgundy — working alongside growers and winemakers in a range of vineyards and wineries.

    A formative turning point came in 2015, when Ben spent time working alongside Vincent Dauvissat in Chablis. There, immersed in one of the world’s great wine regions, his understanding of wine deepened and a lasting conviction took hold: to make wines that speak clearly and honestly of the place they come from.

    In 2017, he travelled to California to work with Ted Lemon at Littorai, before returning to Aotearoa and joining Ata Rangi in Martinborough as assistant winemaker under head winemaker Helen Masters.

    In 2024, Ben stepped away from winemaking to undertake an immersive te reo Māori language course in Tauranga. The experience deepened his relationship with te reo, his tūrangawaewae, his whakapapa and the whenua, while opening new ways of thinking about place, seasonality and the relationship between people and the land.

    These experiences continue to shape Ben’s approach to wine — attentive to place, considered in intervention, and curious about what a vineyard can express.

    Outside of wine, two of Ben’s deepest passions are kai and music. A drummer since he was young, music has always been a source of creativity and inspiration, bringing rhythm, feeling and personality into the way he approaches wine.

    He is also a passionate grower of kai, finding a sense of grounding in his garden and joy in cooking for the people around him. For Ben, growing and preparing food is an act of connection and care — another way of expressing love for whenua, for community and for those close to him.

    Wine is one part of a much wider relationship with creativity, place, food and people — all of which find their way, in different forms, into the wines he makes.

  • Description texOriginally from South Texas, Sara’s path has moved through education, hospitality, design and the arts, alongside a love of travel and a deep curiosity for people and place.

    While working at a small, eclectic wine bar in South Texas, Sara’s interest in wine began to take shape. It was there that she became fascinated by the way wine could open a window into a place — its landscape, people, culture and history. Combined with her love of travel and curiosity about the wider world of wine, this eventually drew her to Aotearoa in 2023 to explore its vineyards and learn more about the process of making wine.

    Meeting Ben brought together a shared sense of curiosity, values and a desire to create something of their own.

    Sara is also exploring her relationship with nature through different mediums, including herbalism, natural beauty, craft and plant-based practices. Her small brand, SARI, is a meeting point between Tejas and Aotearoa — a way of exploring the plants, traditions and landscapes that have shaped her, while deepening her relationship with the whenua of Aotearoa and continuing to grow her connection to the land and heritage of her ancestors in South Texas.

    At Te Huringa, Sara brings her love of design and visual storytelling to the labels, website and wider creative expression of the wines.t goes here