A contrasting start to a day of wine as we headed to Wineworks. This is a bottling plant in Hastings to the south of Napier which provides a diverse array of services to the local wineries. Wineries will have their wine collected in tanker by Wineworks, transferred to the plant and then bottled and labelled or stored as required. Wineworks also offer tank (Charmat) sparkling wine production and laboratory analysis facilities. Lachie Thomas, our host, was bombarded with questions as we sought to discover every nuance of the process.
From Wineworks it was a five minute hop to Trinity Hill. Chief winemaker, Warren Gibson, was our host and we took a quick drive around the vineyards and discovered the famous Gimblett Gravels, an area of very stony, incredibly well drained soil that is the buzzword in Hawkes Bay at the moment. Trinity Hill is already regarded as an iconic winery despite its first vintage only being 1996. We tasted a top class range of wines with Warren.
From the White Label range
- Sauvignon Blanc 2013
- Chardonnay 2013
- Pinot Noir 2013
- Syrah 2013
- The Trinity 2013
From the Black Label range
- Syrah 2012 Gimblett Gravels
- The Gimblett 2012 gimblett Gravels
- Homage Syrah 2010
With lunch
- Chardonnay 2010 Black label
- Tempranillo 2007 Black label
- Touriga Nacional fortified
Stunning quality at every level was enjoyed and the impact of the famous Gimblett Gravels on wine style was eminently displayed.
We then headed to the awesome Craggy Range. Set up by Terry Peabody and Steve Smith MW this is an extraordinary project that is aiming at prestige, super premium quality from day 1. Steve gave us a wonderful insight into the philosophy behind the estate and was particularly informative about the viticultural aspects of the vineyard site selection. No expense has been spared into the design and construction of the winery, tasting rooms and Terroir restaurant.
Steve took us through an amazing tasting:
- Riesling 2013 Te Muna, Martinborough
- Sauvignon Blanc 2013 Te Muna, Martinborough
- Chardonnay 2012 Kidnappers, Hawkes Bay
- Pinot Noir 2012 Te Muna, Martinborough
- Aroha 2006 Pinot Noir, Te Muna Road, Martinborough
- Syrah 2011 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay
- Le Sol 2011 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay
- Te Kahu 2011, Syrah, Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay
- Sophia 2011 Bordeaux blend
- The Quarry 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay
This represented a quite extraordinary selection of Craggy Range’s production and the quality was extraordinarily high.