Rebecca (second from left) and Ollie Powrie with their two daughters outside Chateau Garage. Photo / Richard Brimer
Tucked away in a suburban Napier street is a castle complete with turrets.
If that’s not cool enough for you, just wait until you get a taste of the magic that’s happening inside.
Chateau Garage is producing some of the best wines I have tasted. In fact, they are so good that after just one year in business, they’ve been listed in the top 100 wines of New Zealand (as named by MW and wine reviewer Bob Campbell).
Owners Ollie and Rebecca Powrie are understandably delighted. Ollie is well-known in the viticultural industry and says it is what he has learned from some of the best in the Hawke’s Bay wine industry that has enabled him to take his wine-making hobby and turn it into a viable business.
He worked for Villa Maria, New Zealand’s largest family-owned business, for 15 years.
“When it changed hands, I went from working for the biggest family-owned wine business to the smallest,” he laughed.
It all started with a phone call from grower Bob Newton.
“He said he had some Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for sale and asked if I could help find a buyer,” Ollie said.
“So I went to taste them and they were amazing. I’ve tasted a lot of grapes over the years and seem to have a knack for it.
“I asked Bob if I could buy two rows, and he said yes. Then I had another taste and said, ‘How about four’?
“I ended up buying 10 rows, and that’s when we thought, ‘Let’s get some labels and take this thing seriously’.”
That’s also how Ollie ended up with two tonnes of grapes in his garage.
Those grapes were Chateau Garage’s first vintage.
“The fruit was incredible. We pressed six barrels, left it for 12 months, bottled it and had our first launch.
“The wine was bought by high-end restaurants, including some in Auckland and Wellington, some of them selling it for $30 a glass. We were blown away.
“We had phenomenal feedback, with restaurants contacting us for more. We also noticed that there is incredible support for Hawke’s Bay out there.”
This year, they released their chardonnay.
“Our philosophy is because we have such a small space, we hunt out the best fruit and hand-harvest it with a team of friends and family.
“We use gravity instead of pumps. Our winemaking is very hands-off apart from tasting.”
Ollie said they learned the art of patience on a trip to Italy last year.
“Rebecca and I, along with our two teenage daughters, lived in Italy for seven months.”
They went on a three-month road trip from Paris back up to Tuscany, then they rented a flat in Florence, where the girls went to school.
Rebecca said it was challenging for the girls but a great experience.
Ollie worked a harvest while there and researched “lots of wineries”.
“It made me realise that small family-owned wineries could do it. One winery we went to had been owned by the same family for 150 years and it wasn’t much bigger than our garage,” Ollie said.
He also met an 80-year-old who had been making wine all his life and was still at it.
“I learned being patient is a good skill to have.”
Ollie doesn’t use any additives in his wine - he uses wild yeast and simply leaves it in the cask until it’s ready to bottle.
He started his career in 2000 when he enrolled in an EIT winemaking and viticulture course.
He’s been making wine with a friend as a hobby for 20 years.
“We were always popular at parties when we arrived with our wine. It was fun.”
After graduating in 2002, he worked at Sacred Hill focusing on viticulture, growing grapes and garage winemaking.
He had a year in France before starting work at Villa Maria.
Today, along with his winemaking, Ollie runs a consultancy business working with six wineries.
“When it comes to Chateau Garage, we are so lucky to have the help and support of family and friends, especially Rebecca, my daughters and very helpful grandparents. We are excited about the future of our business and can’t wait to see where it takes us. "
I have a feeling there’s a lot more magic to come out of the castle in suburban Napier.
Chateau Garage is available at some Hawke’s Bay restaurants, Advintage in Havelock North and Bottle-O in Onekawa. For more information, go to https://www.chateaugarage.co.nz/.
It was 9am when I arrived at the home of the Powrie family. I was welcomed inside out of the rain to the smell of coffee and cookies. Rebecca had made homemade chocolate chip biscuits. What a treat. Of course, I managed to get chocolate on my fingers, the cup and even the bench. So yummy.
After a chat, it was time to visit the garage.
“I know it’s early, but do you want to have a taste of the wine?” Ollie asked me.
How could I decline?
The garage, which was smaller than I expected, is amazing. It’s more than 100 years old, its brick walls adorned with family art, the outside floor home to wine barrels and an incredible amphora which is made from clay.
We started with Albarino: oh my goodness, it was so delicious. Ollie is one clever man.
The chardonnay was light on oak and again, just divine. Then it was the cab/sav. Wow. Not a wine I would usually buy, but this has changed my mind. It is long and smooth already and it has only been casked since April 7. Ollie said he let it ferment for about a month.
“I’m not rushing it and leaving my options open.”
The one-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon in the amphora tasted like dark chocolate but much better. These beautifully hand-crafted wines are all made with fruit grown in Hawke’s Bay.
Linda Hall is a Hastings-based assistant editor for Hawke’s Bay Today and has 30 years of experience in newsrooms. She writes regularly on arts and entertainment, lifestyle and hospitality, and pens a column.