Most gins start with grain. Strange Nature starts with grapes and that distinction matters more than you might think.
Our base spirit is distilled from New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wine, sourced from Giesen, one of Marlborough's most established and respected winegrowing families. But beyond the flavour that terroir brings to our gin, there's something else the vineyard gives us: a supply chain we can actually account for.
That starts with a certification called SWNZ — Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. Here's what it is, what it requires, and why we're proud to be connected to a grower who holds it.
What is SWNZ?
Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand was established in 1995. It is one of the first programmes of its kind in the international wine industry. It's not a marketing badge. It's an independently audited certification programme led by New Zealand Winegrowers, built on continuous improvement rather than a one-time tick-box exercise.
Today, 98% of New Zealand's vineyard producing area is SWNZ certified, and over 90% of wine produced in New Zealand is processed in SWNZ certified facilities. That level of industry-wide participation is genuinely unusual and it's a meaningful point of difference for anything grown and made in New Zealand.
What does certification actually require?
This is where it gets specific, and specificity is what separates real standards from stated intentions.
To be SWNZ certified, all members must complete annual submissions and undergo regular on-site audits conducted by an independent verification company. Annual submissions cover six focus areas: soil, water, plant protection, waste, people, and climate change.
Vineyard members must also submit a full spray diary annually, documenting all agrichemical applications made that season. These are processed for compliance to ensure only approved products have been used and that specific rules of use have been followed.
If a practice falls short, it doesn't just get flagged. Corrective actions are raised and the business has a defined window of time in which to remedy the issue. There's no passing without change.
What our vineyard brings to this
Our relationship with Giesen on sustainable and organic growing goes back further than most. In 2009 the Giesen brothers embarked on a path toward organics, seeing themselves as guardians of the land and the environment they do business in. For them, sustainability is a continually evolving process of monitoring and minimising environmental impact.
All Giesen company vineyards are fully certified under Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. That means every time our base spirit leaves the Marlborough region, it carries the weight of that programme with it — audited soil practices, documented water use, verified agrichemical compliance, and a commitment to the land that predates a lot of the industry conversation about sustainability.
Why this connects to what we make
Strange Nature is a grape-based gin. The Sauvignon Blanc spirit that forms its foundation is a by-product of Giesen's winemaking, something that would otherwise be a waste stream, redirected into something worth drinking. That circularity isn't incidental to our sustainability story. It's central to it.
Wine made from grapes grown in 100% SWNZ-certified vineyards and produced in 100% SWNZ-certified facilities. A guarantee of sustainable production from grape to glass. We take that guarantee seriously, because our gin's entire identity is built on knowing exactly where it comes from.
