Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand winery holiday

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Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand winery holiday

Move over, Marlborough: Hawke's Bay is New Zealand's most underrated wine region. Ute Junker reports.

By Ute Junger
Early morning at  Mission Estate Winery, New Zealand.

Early morning at Mission Estate Winery, New Zealand.

Hugh Crichton makes the best wine in New Zealand, and it's not a sauvignon blanc. The first time I meet him, I am unaware of this fact. So is he.

I show up at Vidal Estate, the Hawke's Bay winery where Crichton works as winemaker, two days before New Zealand's premier wine awards, the Air New Zealand Wine Awards. Crichton will go home with three trophies. His Vidal Legacy Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2012 will be named Champion Exhibition White Wine; the Vidal Legacy Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2013 will be named Champion Chardonnay, and will also get the gong as Champion Wine of the Show.

Today, however, his clean sweep is still ahead of him. Crichton, a friendly chap who worked in marketing before reinventing himself as a winemaker, is escorting me through his cellar, where I am startled to see that the barrels in which his chardonnay is aged are stoppered not with bungs, but with beer bottles. "They work really well," Crichton says cheerfully. "They allow some of the gas to escape."

Vidal Estate winemaker Hugh Crichton.

Vidal Estate winemaker Hugh Crichton.Credit: Joseph Michael

Crichton, it is clear, is not a snob; he goes with whatever works. His low-impact philosophy of wine-making focuses on getting the grapes right rather than messing around with the juice once it is in the barrel. He monitors the grapes intensively while they are growing, evaluating them row by row, and picking each bunch when it is ready. He also keeps close tabs on how they turn out.

"We know exactly which row the grapes in each barrel have come from," he says, showing me the codes marked on the barrels in chalk. "We are always looking at our poorest performing plots, trying to lift the levels."

Like other Hawke's Bay wineries, Vidal Estate – founded 110 years ago by a Spanish immigrant, Anthony Joseph Vidal – grows a range of different grapes. Its flagship wines are its French-style chardonnay and syrah; elegant, refined wines that are well suited to matching with food. However, the Vidal Estate range also includes merlot, cabernet and riesling, as well as sauvignon blanc.

Vidal estate's award-winning legacy chardonnay.

Vidal estate's award-winning legacy chardonnay.Credit: Manja Wachsmuth

This is in stark contrast to the way things work in New Zealand's best-known wine region. Marlborough, at the top of the South Island, produces almost 80 per cent of New Zealand's wine. Most winemakers in Marlborough concentrate on just one wine, the area's distinctive sauvignon blanc, which blends grassy notes with passionfruit and guava flavours. It has become one of the world's most instantly recognisable wines.

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In Marlborough, you know what you are getting. In Hawke's Bay, by contrast – a curving coastal area tucked into the east of the North Island – there is a dazzling variety of wines to choose from. The 25 differing soil types and micro-climates created by coastal breezes encourage experimentation.

The area's wineries are mostly family-run boutique operations. Depending which one you visit, you might get to try chardonnay, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc – the latter with a much flintier taste than its Marlborough cousin – or syrah and a range of red blends featuring merlot, malbec and pinot noir.

With 72 wineries scattered across the Hawke's Bay area, there is enough to keep wine lovers busy for days. A good place to start is the Gimblett Gravels. Thirty years ago, this rocky area on the outskirts of Hastings was wasteland, regarded as the least productive land in New Zealand. It didn't even make the cut as sheep pasture; the land was so dry that each animal required more than a hectare to sustain itself. The only people who had any use for Gimblett Gravels were the local hoons, who occasionally used it for a spot of drag racing.

Then winemaker Chris Pask got it into his head that, with enough irrigation, it might be possible to grow decent grapes here. A handful of other adventurous winemakers followed his lead. The results astonished everyone, with the Gimblett Gravels wines winning awards around the country and overseas.

Today, the Gimblett Gravels is considered one of the best parcels of grape-growing land in the country. Australian wine writer James Halliday went so far as to call it a sacred site. You can try the local drop at cellar doors such as Trinity Hill, Te Awa and CJ Pask.

There is plenty more to explore further afield. On the outskirts of Napier lies New Zealand's oldest winery, Mission Estate. The first wines were planted at Mission Estate in 1851, by French monks come to preach the word of God in the antipodes. Today the winery is regarded as one of the area's flagship properties. Its respected Jewelstone range includes wines such as the cabernet sauvignon-merlot-cabernet franc blend, Antoine, a complex mix of leather, spice, tobacco, plum and blackberry notes. Its table wines, including a spicy, fruity gewürztraminer, are equally popular.

Presiding over Mission Estate is a grand two-storey colonial house dating back all the way to 1880. The house stood on the original estate, some distance from here; when the mission relocated, the house was cut into 11 sections, transported partly by rolling it on logs, partly by pulling it on traction engines. The move took two whole days.

The mansion is one of Hawke's Bay's most arresting buildings. Just as eye-catching, but very different in design, is the lodge at Elephant Hill winery. Its clean geometric lines are designed to showcase the gentle contours of its coastal setting. The colour scheme, heavy on teals, turquoises and the aged copper used for cladding, echoes the colours of the vines and the sea, and the striking structure has won a number of architectural awards.

It is not just its contemporary design that sets Elephant Hill apart. The winery places a strong emphasis on sustainability – it has one of the few waste-water treatment plants in New Zealand – while nurturing an old-school approach to winemaking that includes working on organic principles and handpicking the grapes. "Not all grapes ripen at the same time," says managing director Günter Thies. "In one vineyard, we may pick on a dozen different days to ensure each grape is picked at just the right time."

Elephant Hill's entry-level white, Phant Blanc, is an aromatic, easy-drinking blend of pinot gris, viognier and gewurztraminer. Red-wine drinkers will want to try the reserve syrah, with its rich flavours of blackberry, spice and pepper.

Thies, like the Weiss family who own the winery, is originally from Germany. Having worked in some of Germany's most renowned wine growing regions, he is enthusiastic about the Hawke's Bay region and its potential for growth. "Where I was working in Germany, the same families have made wine for 700 years, and they do things the way they have always been done. Here, the wine industry is only 30 years old: it's a great chance to do things differently."

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

hawkesbaynz.com

GETTING THERE

Air New Zealand flies daily from Australia's main gateway cities to Napier. See airnewzealand.com.au.

STAYING THERE

Tucked amid the vineyards in the Tuki Tuki Hills, the self-catering villas at Millar Road feature contemporary design, two bedrooms with en suites, a lounge area and a kitchen. Rates start from $400 a night. See millarroad.co.nz.

CYCLING THERE

Takaro Trails offers one, three and five-day cycling tours of Hawke's Bay, including winery visits. See takarotrails.co.nz.

EATING THERE

Mr D, 47 Tennyson Street, Napier (misterd.co.nz); Ten Twenty Four, 1024 Pakowhai Road, Hastings (tentwentyfour.org).

The writer travelled courtesy of Air New Zealand and Hawke's Bay Tourism.

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