Hunting the Big Reds at Elephant Hill
Last Monday I put on my House of Pania's pool boy hat, picked up my wine connoisseur mate, Bernard, and drove about 20 minutes from Napier to Elephant Hill Winery, which is located between the coastal villages of Te Awanga and Haumoana. There you find the sea is only a stone's throw away from the vines.
Te Awanga, in particular, is a pretty village with its 90 year old baches(holiday homes) and coastal setting. Further along the coast road you will find Cape Kidnappers with its walks and tours, and the exclusive Cape Kidnappers Golf Course with luxury accommodation and a wonderful restaurant (Rosewood).
Located on the coastal road are two standout wineries, Clearview as earlier blogged, and our subject for the day Elephant Hill. Both claim that proximity to the sea is reflected in the wine. I suppose that means a bit more humidity, some salt air, and gentle on-shore (easterly) winds. A bit like smoke in the wine from the Nappa Valley after significant fires close to the vines.
Established by the Weiss family in 2003 the winery's first vintage came in 2008. By the way, the architecture on display at Elephant Hill is worth a closer look whether you are there for the wine or just passing. Its colour and panelling alone are ideal for the coastal vineyard setting. The outdoor dining area has views to the sea, and over the gently rolling hills inland all covered in vines. White grapes and Syrah are grown there in what Elephant Hill calls its 'Te Awanga' vineyard from which its 'Sea' wines are made.
The rest of Elephant Hill's grapes are grown in the Bridge Pa Triangle and in the Gimblett Gravels.
The winery website provides a useful summary of the vineyards and what is grown in them, and the range of wines - Estate, Reserve and Icon including what Elephant Hill calls 'Limited Edition'. One of these is a 2021 RR Tempranillo made from grapes grown at the 'Earth Vineyard' as Elephant Hill calls its Bridge Pa Triangle vineyard.
Only 150 cases of R.R. were made to commemorate the Elephant Hill founder Ralph-Roger Weiss. It tasted well and compares to Trinity Hill's Temperanillos as a different take on the grape, and at a similar price level. It is also one of the few 2021 premium wines so far released at Elephant Hill. More coming soon we were told, hopefully making up for the absence of most 2022 and 2023 Reserve and above quality wines in Hawke's Bay. Another reminder of just how difficult those years were.
For this visit and tasting, my friend Bernard Carpinter was happy to join me. He is a Bordeaux lover too, but unlike me, he drinks Whites as well. We started off as a $20 pp tasting but soon expanded that to $35 equivalent and more again. All the while we had two large glass jars in front of us each containing a mix of gravel soil and stones typical of the terroir at Bridge Pa Triangle and Gimblett.
Some of the most interesting Red wines were from 2015 and 2018 (Tempranillo and Syrah)and for a Bordeaux blend look out for 2018 Elephant Hill Hieronymus, a Cabernet Merlot from the Icon range, made in strictly limited quantities, from a vintage which cannot have been easy, given how much rain came at the wrong times. Elephant Hill's vintage report for 2017-2018 describes good fortune in conditions for ripening and picking for both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon at their right times so enabling Hieronymus to be made and achieve a 97/100 rating from MW Andrew Caillard whose short description of it was "superb wine". There were not so many such wines made in Hawke's Bay in that year. At $120 a bottle, this wine is up there with the leaders from Te Mata Estate (blog coming soon).
Bernard emphasised the wide range of wines from 2015 through to 2021 because quite apart from the wine-makers' work up to bottling, there are years of development and refinement in the bottle. Someone else has done the cellaring for you! And some of the wines are said to be worth keeping until 2039. Serious stuff.
Overall, the wines we tasted were good to excellent. I conferred with Bernard before writing that. I was our driver so apart from the Tempranillo and Cabernet Merlot I did not drink the tastings. Bernard did! His contribution was strengthened by consumption. He liked the 2023 Sea Viognier and 2020 Stone Syrah from the Gravels which he described as a serious wine. That was the same view of the experts who reported from 94 to 97 points and Michael Cooper's 5 stars. Bernard was surprised at the price and quality of the Hawkes Bay Syrah 2018 I bought for under $30. A bargain. Interestingly, Elephant Hill makes these Syrahs, sometimes with a dash of Viognier, to enhance aromatics.
We were provided with a helpful and interesting commentary about the wines and which vineyards they came from, far beyond the tasting notes that were available. For some, especially the Syrahs and Chardonnays, side-by-side tastings were suggested and the differences were discussed. Bernard found these particularly helpful. For those who like more detailed information about the better wines at Elephant Hill and the vintage histories prior to 2019 a careful search of the Elephant Hill website will be rewarding. In particular, the 'News' which records some of the awards and selections Elephant Hill has picked up since 2015. For example two of its wines made it into the Gimblett Gravels Annual Selection 2017, and it won Gold medals in the 2019 Six Nations Wine Challenge. Also you can find insights into how careful and subtle are the makings of the top Syrahs. To get the best information I think you need to be an Elephant Hill member for regular newsletters, something I intend to follow up.
It was a most enjoyable experience. One hopes that Elephant Hill keeps up the good work, and maybe resumes its vintage reporting. It is currently a little uncertain as the winery and vineyards are for sale.
As my wine budget is in overdraft, I sought the best of the, ahem, moins cher wines, to buy.
It would have been nice to stay on for a platter or lunch on the deck but we were long past our morning coffee time and headed for Hygge at Clifton nearby for that. Also, worth a visit.
PS: A while back I mentioned how dry and hot it had been(a thick skin predictor), and while good at the right time some growers were expressing concern. Then the heavens opened and I would say there was too much wet and not enough dry, especially as it has been unusually cold on the East Coast for weeks. The weather has only improved with sunnier days in the last week or two. Hoping for a hot dry March now.
#hawkesbaywine