Vinous Hope amongst Gabrielle’s Devastation

We want to start this piece with a little less of our usual pep, and instead hold a bit of reverence for what was an immensely challenging time for not just our vineyard and winery partners, but a huge number of affected Hawke’s Bay and North Island families. All our contacts in the Hawke’s Bay were, and are safe, but 11 people in the region weren’t so lucky, so our hearts go out to those whānau.

But as we start rolling over to more of the 2023 wines from the Hawke’s Bay, we think perhaps it’s time to look at Julz’ Brogden’s statement in the midst of it all and bring those stories to fruition, as Tony Prichard of De La Terre states;

Obviously, while our thoughts were with everyone affected by Cyclone Gabrielle, our winery partners were a big worry for us as we all sat, listening to the rain and wind lashing our own windows and watched the news headlines rolling in, getting increasingly more worrying. Our wineries in the Hawke’s Bay are run by people that we’ve grown very close to over the years – while, yes, they’re business relationships – they know about our kids and lives, and we know about theirs, and if we’re honest, most of our business meetings end up with an open bottle at the end of them, some good yarns and we ultimately consider these people our friends. So we are very pleased to hear how they’ve all fared, which as it happens, is surprisingly well.

We have rolled onto the 2023 vintage of her Aurulent Chardonnay – an elegant, rich barrel-aged chardonnay that is a highly beloved and popular drop in our lineup.

Her reds are usually split between two single varietals – her Argent Cabernet Sauvignon and Ceresia Cabernet Franc – and one blend – her Impression Red. From the 2023 vintage, there will be no single varietals; “Sometimes less is better and this is where my Impression Red comes to the fore. The fruit is high quality and has been tended and cared for with the premium reds in mind but doesn’t quite make the cut for a single varietal. Time for the blend to take centre stage. The beauty of the blend is that the sum can be greater than the parts. The Impression Red is crafted into a soft, rich, dark fruited barrel-aged blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet franc, very quaffable and a reminder that very good things can come from adversity.”

Easthope Family Winegrowers is the brainchild of ex-Craggy Range winemaker, Rod Easthope and his equally accomplished winemaking partner and wife Emma, who live perched upon a cliffside overlooking the beautiful braided Ngaruroro River in the Mangatahi district of Hawke’s Bay with their three sons.

They are crafting small batches of extraordinarily expressive wines showing that, indeed, you can have subtlety with substance. “We tread lightly on our land… whereby viticulture is only a small part of the overall ecology.”

As the storm picked up, they had a prime viewing position to watch the ordinarily slow, calm meandering river as it started to rise further and further. They stayed jovial at first, joking, “It’s still raining. No power, but hot tub is still warm” but over the next few hours, it soon became apparent to them that the river roaring beneath their property wasn’t just an interesting stormy phenomenon and their lightheartedness was soon thwarted.

They explained after, “we watched in awe and fear as the Ngaruroro River was at a height we had never seen before. Due to all the communication loss at the time we had no idea of the destruction and trauma that was well underway down river.”

So far, we’ve only rolled vintage onto their Home Block Chardonnay. We’re sure more of their lineup will follow, but the ‘23 Home Block was released on 1st June and has sold out at the winery already. It’s proving immensely popular with notes of ripe pear, white peach, delicate vanilla and subtle acacia, and as luck would have it, we still have some stock…😉

De la terre is the passion project of talented Tony Prichard, a Hawke’s Bay winemaking legend (ex-Church Road).

De la terre means ‘of the earth’, referencing both the all-important vineyard soils and the earth brick construction for their winery & cellar door. With his wife and partner-in-wine, Kaye, he crafts elegant and engaging wines that are a delicious fusion of high-tech winemaking knowledge with traditional hands-on winemaking methods in the cellar. From the vineyard to the glass his personal touches are evident in the small volumes of hand-crafted wines from an incredibly quirky mix of grape varieties, such as Tannat, Barbera, Montepulciano, Tempranillo, and Viognier. These wines are very much a labour of love.

So when the Cyclone hit and they found themselves cut off entirely from communication, they were rightfully concerned. Their winery worker and friend, Tania, updated friends and followers from Hastings; “Thinking of everyone affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. It’s unprecedented what’s happened… Many were on their roofs last night being rescued by the military after the river burst its banks. Praying for everyone’s safety… The winery is currently uncontactable due to phones, cell phones and internet being out in the area.”

As the storm cleared, it became clear that de la terre was thankfully pretty intact, though the road stayed closed for quite some time.

“​​Our road is still technically closed and there is much to do. We were very fortunate to have only the most minor mess to clean up here at the winery. Thankful to the teams who have restored power and [are] working hard to clear the road… The silt may be a bit to clean up but in the rain it’s made beautiful patterns. Our friend Poppy put it beautifully, “everyone has the beach at their place now”

Come March, exactly one month since landfall, harvest at De la terre started and much to their delight, things looked pretty good. They started with picking for their Cuvée II Methode and found that the difficult vintage had impacts, sure, but with as much skill and experience as Tony has under his belt, it was nothing he couldn’t adapt to.

“So do you reject a crop because it’s not perfect? Absolutely not… in our books you find the solution where everyone wins, where our grower gets paid and a pretty perfect looking bunch of fruit gets turned into exceptional wine!!Yes this first pick was slow and hard going. We sorted the fruit, cutting off any imperfections and look at what we got!! And also yes, this kind of handpicking is expensive too, but we are so grateful to have a crop after this extremely challenging year.”

And an even better result followed in the second harvest, as they picked chardonnay destined for the Blanc de Blanc; “We get the best surprise… the fruit for our Blanc de Blanc is in exceptional condition despite the season and the cyclone! We are ecstatic to say the least!”

So far, the only wine from De La Terre that we’ve moved onto from 2023 is their Estate Chardonnay. Unlike his ‘Barrique Ferment’ Chardonnay, Tony uses a combination of both barrel and tank for the fermentation of the Estate chardonnay. Crisp and balanced on the palate, great harmony between fruit, oak, and complexity.

First worth noting, especially for international readers, is that Cyclones, Hurricanes and Typhoons are essentially the same weather phenomenon – only differentiated between which oceans they formed over.

Cyclone Gabrielle formed on the 5th February and devastated a number of communities, notably in Vanuatu, Eastern Australia and New Zealand’s North Island when it made landfall just over a week later. The 2022 season had already been particularly wet thanks to a La Niña system, with many parts of the North Island having experienced devastating flooding just weeks prior, so news of Gabrielle approaching was especially unwelcome and states of emergency in some regions that were still in place were extended in anticipation.

For a while, the devastation wasn’t fully known. A number of factors worked against residents – access was restricted due to closed roads, bridges that had been washed away, debris or water hindering a lot of movement, while contact was made difficult due to the power outages, internet and cell phone signal being lost. Many residents found themselves cut off entirely, and afterwards some of these residents told of how they’d had to sit listening to old battery radios for updates as the communities they knew were ravaged around them, not knowing when they’d be able to talk to people or find out what was happening, a rarity in this day & age.

A week after landfall, acting Prime Minister Chris Hipkins communicated that the number of people registered as ‘uncontactable’ was 3,200, and that many homes in Napier, Hastings and the Hawke’s Bay still had no power. 11 people lost their lives.

Water, more than wind, was what hit the Hawke’s Bay region so hard, and so the very conditions that made it a grower’s paradise briefly became its downfall. The rivers and soils that were so coveted were suddenly everywhere they shouldn’t be.

There was a buildup of debris at a lot of bridges and other structures, which contributed to the overtopping and erosion of over 30 crucial stopbanks as floodwaters built up and breached them. 

Multiple rivers in the area burst their banks. The Tūtaekurī River bursting damaged the main substation, resulting in phone and internet services getting cut off. The Esk River, famous through Esk Valley Winery, burst its banks and submerged several properties entirely with more than 7 metres of water and silt (one house was moved 600 metres from its original position.) The Ngaruroro River – which Easthope overlooks – burst its banks and flooded a settlement where residents required helicopter rescue. And when the Wairoa River burst its banks it flooded nearly 15% of the town, containing about half the town’s population. The Waipawa River, while it didn’t ‘burst’ was at record high levels and the main route in and out of the region – State Highway 2 – was closed after major landslips.

We’re lucky to say that our three wineries in the Hawke’s Bay region are both safe and prosperous, with the first wines being released now and living up to their usual expected quality. It’s astonishing the quality that talented winemakers can wrangle out of a difficult crop.

Julz at Collaboration has fared well, and has been putting in work to support her growers and industry friends that experienced big losses, but has released a great Chardonnay and will have some beautiful  ‘23 Impression Red soon enough.

Rod & Emma at Easthope’s elevation left them in a uniquely privileged position where most of the water flowed to lower terraces. While their view was dramatic, their ‘23 Home Block Chardonnay is already proving itself to be a sell-out and we expect the other releases to follow suit.

Tony & Kaye at De la Terre had some cleanup to do with a lot of silt at the winery. They were without contact for a while due to the outages and had to shut the cellar door, but come harvest time they marvelled at the resilience and quality of the grapes given what they’d endured. We’ve got their chardonnay in stock now, with more goodies on the horizon.