Wine Regions | Hawkes Bay
Hawke's Bay is the country's second largest region and has a respected 100-year heritage in wine. The varied topography and wide range of soil types, from fertile silty loams to free-draining shingle, produces a considerable range of wine styles in this large region. Ripening dates for a single grape variety can vary by as much as three weeks between the hot, shingle soils of the Gimblett Road area to the cool, higher altitude vineyards of central Hawke's Bay.
Chardonnay is the most widely planted grape variety but the long sunshine hours attract a high percentage of later ripening red grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, as well as the early ripening Pinot Noir.
Kim Crawford Wines draws grapes mainly from the coastal Te Awanga sub-region, as well as a small portion from the Gimblett Road area.
