Winery's reputation well deserved

Vidal winemaker Hugh Crichton produced an award-winning chardonnay. Photo / Warren Buckland

Summer is about relaxing with friends and maybe enjoying a glass of wine. Hawke’s Bay is known for its fine wines. In this summer series, Roger Moroney profiles our best-known wineries

Vidal was something of a groundbreaker when it came to opening up the world of wine, and cuisine, to a wider audience.

It was back in 1979 - the year when Robert Muldoon was Prime Minister and I was a slip of a chap who wandered off to the big Nambassa music festival - that the Vidal Estate Winery Restaurant opened on the original winery site off St Aubyn St in Hastings.

The restaurant, with its timbers and paving and courtyard greenery became a real "gotta go there" spot for people at that time, as it still is.

Indeed a groundbreaker.

As was a young chap by the name of Anthony Joseph Vidal who arrived here from Spain more than 125 years ago.

He spent his first 11 years Down Under at Wanganui where he worked for his uncle, winemaker Joseph Soler.

Then he headed north to Hawke's Bay and young Vidal liked what he saw in terms of the terrain and knew it would suit the making of wines very well.

He saw a little bit of Spain and the Mediterranean here - the warm summer climate and good draining land.

In 1905 he bought a property in Hastings (site of the present restaurant) and he converted an old stable on it into a wine cellar.

He got to planting vines, which he spread to include te Awanga and Te Mata, and Vidals was born.

Another firm name in New Zealand winemaking history is that of George Fistonich who founded Villa Maria in 1961.

He was passionate about viticulture and winemaking from when he was a boy, although his parents had wanted him to learn to be a builder.

But wine was in the veins.

"I grew up in an environment with wine and always enjoyed the taste of it," he said.

"Being Croatian, making wine was in my blood."

Vidal Estate is now under the Villa Maria umbrella, which also has Esk Valley Estate and Te Awa Winery, along with a winery in Marlborough.

The Hastings winery has gone from strength to strength, and having senior winemaker Hugh Crichton aboard has seen the accolades build up.

Mr Crichton honed his skills working in vineyards in Spain and Italy, and closer to home Gisborne and Otago.

He has embraced the European elegance and food-friendliness of wines, and the influence has been a positive one.

He is passionate about chardonnay and picking up the 2014 Air New Zealand Wine Awards Best Wine trophy was well and truly cause for celebration.

The wine was the Legacy Chardonnay.

There is plenty of colour, not to mention fine flavours, aromas and tastes, at Vidal Estate.

CHECK OUT
Vidal Estate Winery Restaurant and Cellar Door: 913 St Aubyn St East, Hastings.
Try: Legacy Chardonnay and Legacy Syrah.
Cellar Door: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm; Sunday, 11am to 4pm. Closed: All public holidays.
Email: enquiries@vidal.co.nz