Festival of feasts for all the senses in Hawkes Bay

By CHRIS ROSIE

Music, fine wine, beautifully preserved architecture. Where can I be but Hawkes Bay?

The musicians turn up annually for the international chamber music festival, held this year at the end of July (next year it will be in September), which is always a feast for the ears.

And with the focus largely on evening events, festival visitors have the days left free to explore. Even in the middle of winter the area offers much to enjoy.

Napier's defining moment came at 10.47 am on February 3, 1931. The earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, killed 258 people and left a devastated central Napier requiring an almost total rebuilding job.

The result is what has been described by a director of the Science Museum in London as "the most complete and significant group of Art Deco buildings in the world."

After the earthquake the city embarked on an exceptional rebuilding programme reflecting the style of the times. This incorporated the emphatic geometric shapes and lines, vibrant colour and the use of manmade substances that we now call Art Deco. It took its name from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. And the style provided the backdrop to the 1920s Jazz Age.

Within a few steps of each other are the Municipal Theatre, the venue for most of the chamber music festival, the one-storey Tennyson Chambers, with its Frank Lloyd Wright echoes, and the Daily Telegraph building, which at first glance bears similarities to its famous namesake in Fleet St.

To make it easier for visitors, the Art Deco Trust provides a booklet to accompany a walking tour of the historic buildings. The walk takes between an hour and an hour and a-half. Guided tours are also available.

Of course, actually using the buildings is part of the fun. The Masonic Hotel - described by the guide as probably the most modern-looking building when it was built in 1932 and "still remarkably so today" - continues to provide accommodation, as well as a range of cafes and bars, and is an ideal place to enjoy a glass of the region's wine.

A guide to the wineries lists 29 estates open to the public.

All have their characteristics. For instance, Esk Valley on the main road into Napier is notable for its picturesque terraced vines. At nearby Crab Farm (named after the crabs that lived there before the earthquake lifted the area above sea level), visitors can linger over lunch in the vineyard restaurant.

On the western edges of Napier's suburbs, the museum at the McDonald Winery gives an insight into the winemaking techniques of the past.

Further south, under the shadow of Te Mata peak and on the outskirts of Havelock North, is Te Mata Estate.

If blending is a key to effective winemaking, this vineyard must be on to a sure thing. With its first vines planted in 1892 and its mixture of the old and new, it is a must-see on any tour.

Need to walk off one of those winery lunches? Try the trails around Te Mata peak. Or are you looking for a little surprise? The Hawkes Bay Exhibition Centre in Hastings might just supply one. A week before The Art of Grahame Sydney dominated the Montana Book Awards, this traveller came across a display of his paintings there. A landscape painter who features buildings wins a wine-sponsored award.

What more appropriate place for an exhibition of his work than Hawkes Bay?