Established by Marcel Giesen and Sherwyn Veldhuizen in 1997. Located within a lime quarry in the Weka Pass, North Canterbury, the Bell Hill vineyard is divided into the following blocks – the Quarry, the Shelf, the Limeworks, the Steps, the Roadblock, the Slope and the Westbank – and is modelled on the high density plantings of vineyards in Burgundy, France. The Quarry Block, which was the first to be planted, has 9,259 vines/ha, the steep, hillside Shelf Block has 11,111 vines/ha, the Limeworks Block has 9,090 vines/ha and the Steps has 12,500 vines/ha. The Roadblock, Slope and Westbank Blocks were planted in 2008-2009 and have 11,363 vines/ha. We now have just under 22,500 vines planted.