Our story
We come from Northern Estonia – Maris from Tallinn and Mati from Härma village in Raasiku municipality from Harjumaa. We settled in Võru County after graduating from the University of Tartu in 1992. year We are both biologists. This area fascinated us with its varied landscape and nature. Now we are very fond of our home region.
We came to Kõivsaare farm in 1993. This is the house of the workers of the Uue-Saaluse manor. There lived 4 families in the 19th century. After the Estonian War of Independence, the house was given to the Kartsepp’s family, from whom we bought the farm in 1993. The farm has 10 hectares of land, of which we established a sea- buckthorn plantation on 1.5 hectares in 2000. We have been recognized organic producers since 2005. In addition to sea buckthorn, we also grow dozens of different varieties of open field grapes We planted the first vines in 2012 and now more than 100 of them are growing. Vines are Mati’s interest and hobby. He multiplies them, cuts them and talks to them.
The winery was established in 2017. Our wish is to make high-quality wines and berry wines only from raw materials from Estonia, and especially from Southern Estonia. We get part of the raw materials from our own plantation, and buy some from nearby farmers.
Maris has studied as a sommelier and develops wine recipes.
There is an old apple orchard in our farm, where “sügisjoonik”, an autumn apple variety, gives the best crops. In addition, there are several blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes in the garden.
We have 2 daughters- Maarja and Mirjam, who are already grown up and live in Tallinn. 31. Maarja has daughter Iris, who was born in 2017. Maarja is married to Indrek. Mirjam’s boyfriend is Liviu, who comes from grape growers family in Moldova.
We have 2 pets – a dachshund Guna and a cat – Täpi, who is a good mouse catcher. Täpi really likes to catch big water voles – there are lots of them living by the lake. Guna is a good housekeeper and a gifted communicator who makes all guests happy.
