Knight's agave adventure started 20 years ago when he bought some seeds from a friend, who got them from a private collection in France.
Since then he's become skilled at propagating and growing them in a massive hothouse behind the distillery.
The spiky succulents can reach a height of two metres and thrive in arid soils so Knight has had to make their growing conditions challenging.
"We only give them a dripper of water once a month for 12 hours, and I actually scraped the top metre of soil off because it was too rich for them!"
The plants are grown on an eight-year rotational cycle. A small excavator is used to turn them upside down when they're ready to be harvested.
"We take them outside, cut the leaves off and end up with a heart in the middle that could weigh anything between 20 and 40 kilos."
Terry's next major agave tequilana harvest is due to take place in about three years' time. Photo / 123RFThe hearts are then cooked into a mash that's then fermented, distilled and refined in copper stills.
Knight has named his unique tequila "TeKiwi 100% Blue Agave Spirit" because the Mexican government owns the word "Tequila" outright.
"You must have a clear name, so I thought TeKiwi is our native language, it's not making a word up, it's actually calling it a New Zealand tequila."
Despite a hefty price tag of $1000, sales of the TeKiwi tequilana spirit, that comes in a Höglund hand blown glass bottle, are ticking over nicely.
"Last month we sold five bottles in a week and I'm only trying to sell 300 bottles in a year until we come onto full production," Knight says.
The next major agave tequilana harvest is due to take place in about three years' time.
