Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Gimblett Gravels measures up well

Hawkes Bay Today
28 Jan, 2013 06:46 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

For leading international wine writers such as the UK's Tim Atkin, one of the eagerly awaited visits during a two-day expedition through the vineyards and wineries of Hawke's Bay last week was to the Gimblett Gravels region.

Mr Atkin has been a flag waver for Hawke's Bay syrah for several years now, and was keen to see the vines, and the region, which had stirred up so much international acclaim.

The 16 international wine media guests who took part in the Hawke's Bay - Our World in Your Glass visit, which was hosted by Hawke's Bay Winegrowers, took part in a blind tasting of syrahs which included a dozen 2009 and 2010 vintages, as well as a selection of benchmark international syrahs from Australia and France.

The Gimblett Gravels varieties more than measured up against the international leaders and drew high praise from the global guests.

Mr Atkin summed it up by saying the quality was so high it was "surprisingly hard" to identify which were Gimblett Gravels types against the top French and Australian types. Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association chairman Tony Bish was understandably delighted at the response and enthusiasm shown.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Such tastings and detailed evaluations provided valuable insights for the winegrowers "as well as a fantastic opportunity to showcase their wines to a set of very influential international wine media," Mr Bish said.

After tasting the group were taken on a tour of Stonecroft Winery which is home to the country's oldest syrah vines and later treated to a Kiwi barbecue of salmon and lamb, accompanied by a selection of Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay and blended reds.

Mr Atkin reckoned the rate of change in the Bay wine industry was higher than anywhere else in the country. "You've got younger people driving the pace of change, challenging the paradigm. Very exciting."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The guests were in New Zealand to attend the three-yearly Pinot Noir Conference in Wellington and Hawke's Bay Winegrowers organised the two-day "taster" in the Bay as an entree to the events in the capital.

Cycles rides and Kiwi breakfasts were among the fare, along with meetings with winemakers.

A debate chaired by Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule and staged at the Mission Estate chapel/conference room was also on the agenda and featured two teams, made up of Rod Easthope from Easthope Winemakers, Tony Bish from Sacred Hill, Peter Cowley from Te Mata Estate and Grant Edmonds from Sileni Estate. They debated the merits of syrah and Bay blends, with the international guests each tasting their way through the debate.

Hawke's Bay Winegrowers executive officer Lyn Bevin said the visit was invaluable in getting the good word out about not just Hawke's Bay's leading wines but also the region itself.

She said the 12 events staged all showcased the strengths of the Bay. Canadian wine writer David Lawrason described the advances in wine quality in the past 20 years since he'd last visited as "phenomenal".

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP