Except from our very first newsletter of Autumn 1998.
Some of you may be wondering how we came upon the name Hyperion. Whilst delving around in the Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology we noted Kronos amongst the early Greek gods; in fact he was a god of Agriculture and at one time reigned over the ‘Golden Age’ when everything was perfect and plants grew out of the ground spontaneously. This scenario definitely appealed to us! Kronos was also a corruption of our own surname so it seemed quite appropriate. However we discovered he had a nasty side to him and opted instead for his brother Hyperion, one of twelve first people to exist following the union between Gaia (the Earth, from whom all produce flows) and Uranus (the Heavens). The god Hyperion has a powerful ‘sun and light’ image and is the subject of an unfinished work by Keats, purportedly his best. Here is an excerpt -
“ Blazing Hyperion on his orbed fire still sat, … teeming up from man to the Sun’s God. ….His palace bright bastion’d with pyramids of glowing gold. … His flowing robes stream’d out beyond his heels, And gave a roar as if of earthly fire. On he flared, Through bowers of fragrant and enwreathed light. And diamond-paved lustrous long arcades.”
The connection with the vineyard is one of light and beauty, as light can create magical effects at different times of day. This line of thinking is continued with Hyperion’s offspring as they are Helios the Sun, Selene the Moon and Eos the Dawn, each having a beneficial effect on the vines (the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the night and the moisture at dawn) as well as a beauteous one involving radiance. We have thoughts of using these names as sub names on our wine labels sometime in the future. ‘Kronos’ could also be used for a reserve label if we ever have this distinction.
“ Beauty in things exist in the mind which contemplate them. ” David Hume (1711-1776)
So there you have it - what’s in a name? It’s obviously highly important if one wants to succeed. Hyperion has a strong, ‘stand alone’ ring to it and sounds vaguely like a combination of “high” and “superior”, a description which might well encompass the sloping nature of our vineyards. Just out of interest, ‘Hyperion’ does not appear in any telephone book throughout New Zealand. Overseas its only exclusive use is by a computer company in the USA and a classical record company in UK.
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