To begin it is worth remembering that the great wines of the world are made in environments where the most naturally adapted grape varieties just reach full maturity. If the vines ripen too quick, too easily, at warm times of the year, then the wines just lack that something special. If they ripen too late, or in fact fail to ripen, the wines can range from thin and light to downright awful! So it's a fine line if one wants to aspire to great wine and the joys of achievement are regularly buffeted by the tears of the years that didn't quite make it. That is something that the vigneron and wine drinker must both expect and deal with. It is very obvious though that the smart producers in these fine wine areas have been very successful with "terroir manipulation" to reduce the number of "off vintages"; classed growths in the Medoc being a prime example.
So where does Hawke's Bay sit? In general the Hawke's Bay region is climatically slightly cool for making red wines from the 'Bordeaux' red varieties and Syrah. There is generally enough warmth for the vine to ripen the fruit for its own capacity, however the wine style requirements demand more heat at certain times of the day and season. The spring and autumn in Hawke's Bay are certainly warm enough to ripen these varieties, however it is the lack of real heat during berry development that is the limiting factor. I sort of stumbled across this idea when doing my MW thesis in 1995 where I managed to categorise the regions of the wine world according to wine style by comparing, from fruit set to harvest, how hot it gets during the day alongside the total amount of heat available to the vine to ripen grapes, that is day and night-time temperatures. This neat little piece of maths gave a meaningful wine style perspective on the world of wine. ( Smith 1996 )
The cause of this lack of real hot summer days is the influence of the sea, which is less than 15km away for most vineyards, and generates a cool sea breeze from about lunchtime on most summer days. While the closeness of the sea makes us good yachties, its not really that great for getting those hot summer days needed.
From a wine style perspective, even for the intermediate climate loving 'Bordeaux' red varieties, it seems that daytime temperatures from fruit set until harvest have got to average 25°C. On a macro-climatic scale Hawke's Bay does not quite fit that picture, and in cooler years the wines show some of the tears we were talking about. However within the region there are warm spots that in most years get very close to those fine wine regions climatically. When combined with a desirable soil type and some smart terroir manipulation using viticultural management, we can then justifiably say that our "terroir" has the potential to fit alongside those other producers of high quality Bordeaux red wines and Syrah.
The Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District is one of these "hot spots" of Hawke's Bay.