When Abel Tasman first discovered New Zealand back in 1642, the name he gave to this land mass was “Staete Landt” which means “Land (discovered in honour) of the Governors (Staete) (of the Dutch Republic)”.
More than 350 years on, “Staete Landt” is the name for an emerging wine company founded by Ruud Maasdam and Dorien Vermaas, originally born in the Netherlands. The link between their new home and New Zealand’s discovery by one of their predecessors, was obvious: the perfect combination of their heritage and their future.
They uncovered a copy of the original map drawn by Abel Tasman. This very first and original map of New Zealand strongly influenced the label design for Staete Landt wines. Abel Tasman sailed the West Coast of New Zealand and quite accurately mapped the coastlines.
On his return trip to Batavia Abel Tasman also discovered Tasmania (Van Diemen Land), Fiji and Tonga. Upon his return to the Dutch Republic it was decided to change Staete Landt to its present name "New Zealand" (Nova Zeelandia).
The design of our labels is based on Tasman's first map of New Zealand.
The compass and the border on the labels are taken from similar early navigation maps that were made of New Zealand in the 17th century.
