Regions
HAWKES BAY
A new red wine frontier...
Hawkes Bay, on the Central east coast of the North Island, enjoys a generally warm, temperate, sunny environment with slightly lower rainfall than Gisborne. There are, however, parcels of genuine cool climate viticulture. This is New Zealand’s second largest region and is the country’s most diverse winegrowing region with a respected 100 year heritage in wine. Within the region the climatic and soil conditions can produce a range of ripening dates spanning more than one month for the same variety. There are more than 22 soil classes ranging from the young very stony soils of the Gimblett Gravels to the deeper loess and gravel soils of Ngatarawa and Maraekakaho, from shallow limestone soils of the lowland slopes, to sandy clay loams of the coastal hills.
Wine styles show similar diversity with the stars of the region being firstly the spectacular diversity of fine Chardonnay wines, depending very much for their character on vineyard site. Secondly, the red wines from Syrah or the Bordeaux red varieties grown in the warmer stony sites, or on sheltered sloping sites, are showing exceptional potential.
GDD: 1240 - 1480
Mean January Temperature ºC : 18.3 - 19.5
