Hawkes Bay winemakers continue to delight with wines of truly international quality. This should come as no surprise - a significant number of producers have been plying their considerable skills there for decades, nurturing vines that have been in the ground for the same time. Healthy vines with 30 or 40-plus years are usually, if not at their peak, then heading towards it, delivering superb fruit into the hands of experienced vintners.
It's an unbeatable combination and Hawkes Bay is blessed (as a rule) with a benign climate in which grapes thrive. A high number of sunshine hours, warm summer temperatures, autumns without too much rain ... but just to keep everyone on their toes, rogue frosts can suddenly strike at the most inopportune times.
However, when everything lines up climatically, you can be assured of a sublime vintage.
The soil profiles are diverse and lend themselves to a range of distinctive styles for a number of varietals - for example, chardonnays with either a lean minerality and complexity in a more chablis-style or your classic New World stone fruit flavours with a toasty oak edginess.
Hawkes Bay vines are planted in fertile soils or free-draining shingle, or something in between and the region's growers have been around long enough to know what clones work best where. The result is a region brimming with confidence.
