Key wine regions

Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s oldest wine region which began in 1851. By the early 1920’s, Mission Estate, Te Mata Estate, Vidal Estate, McDonalds Winery and Glenvale Winery (now Esk Valley Winery) were all established in the region. It is now New Zealand’s second largest wine region and the largest premium red wine producing region in the country. The first vineyards in Hawke’s Bay were established on the coast with later development progressing inland along the edges of the alluvial plains which extend up the region’s river valleys. Smaller plantings are exploring hillside and higher altitude sites of inland Central Hawke’s Bay. Covering an area of 1.4 million hectares, the region also has around 350km of coastline which has alluvial and limestone soils, that were eroded from further inland and washed to the coast by several rivers that form valleys along much of the coast.