Vineyard going lock, stock and wine barrel

The new owner of Stonecroft will be securing a piece of New Zealand's wine history. Photo / Supplied

Several Hawkes Bay vineyards, including one of the province's longest established wineries, are being offered for sale at a time when the region's global reputation for producing high-quality red wines is burgeoning.

After 25 years of producing ground-breaking Hawkes Bay wines, legendary winemaker Dr Alan Limmer and his family are selling Stonecroft Wines lock, stock and wine barrel as a freehold going concern as retirement beckons.

Glyn Rees-Jones of marketing agent Bayleys Hawkes Bay is seeking offers for the business closing on November 27 for the boutique Gimblett Gravels winery and its two vineyards.

Rees-Jones says the lasting legacy that Dr Limmer will leave in the wine arena is undisputed and a new owner will be securing a piece of New Zealand's wine history.

"In 1989, two years after its first vintage, Stonecroft introduced the first New Zealand commercial release of the syrah variety. Subsequent successful developments of syrah throughout Hawkes Bay can be directly attributed to Dr Limmer and Stonecroft," says Rees-Jones.

The offering comprises a home block of 4ha in Mere Rd, Fernhill which hosts the cellar door, winery and dwelling and a separate Roys Hill vineyard, of approximately 6ha, on Highway 50 just south of Mere Rd. Both vineyards are part of the registered Gimblett Gravel appellation, increasingly recognised internationally for the quality of its red wines. It covers 800ha of plantings determined by the gravelly soils laid down by the old Ngaruroro River and exposed after a huge flood in the 1860s.

The home block has 3ha of plantings - approximately 1ha each of chardonnay, syrah and gewurztraminer _ while Roys Hill has 2.5ha in syrah, 1ha gewurztraminer and the balance in zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon. Both blocks are fully trickle irrigated, with water coming from individual bores.

Buildings include a 1970s four-bedroom home, cellar door facilities with office and amenities, a 600sq m winery with fermentation/tank room plus two insulated barrel rooms (one with a mezzanine floor) and an auxiliary winery building with part-underground cellar. An extensive plant and equipment schedule is included in the sale and features sprayers, tractors and a vine trimmer.

"It is not often that a fully fledged operation with the status that Stonecroft enjoys comes to the market," says Rees-Jones who is also marketing two vineyards in the nearby Bridge Pa Triangle - bounded by Ngatarawa, Roys Hill and Maraekakaho Rds and close to both Hastings and Havelock North. One is the Bridge Pa Vineyard at 218 Ngatarawa Rd, a specialist syrah vineyard site of 12.9ha with approximately 10ha of plantings, which has Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand accreditation. Rees-Jones says the current owners, Lisa and Stephen Daysh, are ready to take on new challenges having gained an enviable reputation for the quality of their wine. "Their office walls are lined with gold medal and trophy certificates which are testimony to their hard work, dedication and belief in syrah. As single estate syrah producers they have pioneered new territory in the industry - and really backed themselves when they pulled out their Bordeaux varieties and replanted with syrah."

Highly regarded winemaker Rod McDonald - former chief winemaker for Vidal and current chairman of the Hawkes Bay Winegrowers' Association - has been contracted since 2007 to make wine for Bridge Pa Vineyard. This follows a proven history of super premium wines, with Bridge Pa's flagship wine Louis Syrah awarded a gold medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge for every vintage from 2004-06 along with numerous other awards.

The sale of Bridge Pa Vineyard includes the refurbished character four-bedroom home, supplementary shedding, full overhead water sprinkler frost protection system, stainless steel fermentation tanks, oak barrels, wine stocks, and the Bridge Pa brand including the website.

The Bridge Pa Vineyard has a deadline sale date of November 27.

The third viticulture property for sale, with a closing date of November 20, is the Waikahu Vineyard at 1884 Maraekakaho Rd which currently produces an award-winning chardonnay for one of New Zealand's foremost wine companies.

Owned by the Matthews family, the vineyard was established in 1995 and has a long-term supply contract to Villa Maria. The single vineyard Waikahu Chardonnay has achieved accolades from Winestate and Cuisine magazines, along with a gold medal for the 2006 vintage in the New Zealand International Wine Show and bronze medals at the Bragato Wine Awards 2006-09.

"The experts say that in making this outstanding wine, minimal winemaker intervention has been necessary as the wine is a true representation of the terroir [uniqueness] of this unique grape-growing site," says Rees-Jones. The 8.8ha property has about 6.5ha planted in chardonnay, syrah, viognier and merlot grapes. The syrah plantings of 1.4ha are the most recent with the first crop to come off the vines in 2011. The chardonnay and merlot grapes are contracted to Villa Maria on a dollars per hectare basis with above New Zealand average dollars per tonnage rates being achieved.

The vineyard comes with an architecturally designed four-bedroom homestead, built in 1999, with the Karewarewa Stream providing a natural water feature. A pedestrian bridge from the home leads to the chardonnay block adding to the property's ambience. "A 20sq m under-floor, concrete-lined wine cellar is accessed via metal trapdoors in the garage making this a true wine buff's haven," says Rees-Jones.