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An outdoor bathtub and a plentiful supply of gin and tonic may not sound like the building blocks of a great winery but 21st birthdays are always full of blasts from the past. And the owners of Sacred Hill Winery have always been renowned for throwing a good
party.
Last month the winery, now one of the largest and oldest in Hawkes Bay, celebrated its 21st.
Not that owners David Mason and Tony Bish are certain that 2007 is the 21st year of life for Sacred Hill, but it's close enough reckon the pair who spent plenty of time enjoying cocktails at their fledgling winery a couple of decades ago - replete with the outdoor bath for when it got too hot.
David Mason and his brother Mark (who is now growing grapes in Central Otago) describe their late teenage years in the early 1980s as being virtual slave labour; planting the first grapevines at Sacred Hill as it underwent the conversion from family farm into winery.
Originally part of a 1200-acre farm, Sacred Hill winery is now set atop a hill surrounded by 350 acres that remain in family hands. The rest was sold off as it was deemed unsuitable for growing top quality grapes.
Winemaker Tony Bish arrived on the scene in the mid-1980s and the trio forged their name creating experimental red and white wines. In 1987 Bish sold his shares, took his gin, a Persian rug and a miniscule amount of money and left to make wine in Central Otago.
Fast-forward a couple of decades - Bish has returned - and the winery is now one of the most successful in Hawkes Bay.
The reason it is abuzz with growth in both the quality and quantity of wines it makes is that neither Mason nor Bish rests on their laurels. Almost everything has changed since the early days. The first grapes planted in 1982 were gewurztraminer, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc; all have been removed and replaced.
The red grapes originally grown on their highest altitude vineyard, Riflemans, have today been entirely replaced with chardonnay grapes (the namesake wine, Riflemans Chardonnay, is now widely applauded and awarded as one of the best in this country).
Instead of focusing solely on Hawkes Bay, Mason and Bish make Marlborough sauvignon blanc. But their top sauvignon is made from locally grown grapes left almost entirely to their own devices. Rather than inoculate with a winemakers' yeast, Bish lets the grapes ferment of their own accord to make Sacred Hill Sauvage Sauvignon Blanc; a wine that is consistently in my top five Kiwi sauvignon blancs.
As well as pumping inordinate time and resources into creating cabernet sauvignons and merlots, which are challenging to get right every year, Bish and Mason make one of Hawkes Bay's best syrahs.
There is precious little Deerstalkers Syrah about, so you'll need to go to a specialist wine store, and it'll set you back a pretty penny at about $60 a bottle.
Is it worth that amount? Depends what you are looking for, but at least once a week I crave one glass of something great rather than copious quantities of average wine. If that sounds like where you are at, there are two vintages of Deerstalkers Syrah floating about in good wine stores - 2004 Deer Stalkers Syrah and 2005 Deerstalkers Syrah. Both will sate your desire for wow-factor rather than ordinary wine.
