Moffat
Road, Bethlehem, Tauranga is the site of our Winery complex, completed in 1995. The Art
Deco style architecture is a reflection on Hawkes Bay, and specifically Napier - the Art
Deco capital of the world.
Mills Reef winery is a major Tauranga landmark and has frequently been acclaimed as one of
the most stylish and attractive winery buildings in New Zealand. Set on 20 acres of
beautifully landscaped grounds, the complex boasts full winemaking and bottling
facilities, two underground barrel cellars, an aged wine cellar and spacious wine tasting
areas.
An award-winning, one hundred and fifty seat restaurant completes the picture, providing
an ambience which complements fine wines and cuisine. Mills Reef is also the ideal setting
for weddings, conferences and presentations.
Winemaking
Our
focus
Although New Zealand is known primarily as a cool climate winemaking country, there
are exclusive regions, one of which is Hawke’s Bay, that lend themselves to a warmer
style of winemaking. The Gimblett Gravels appellation is a sub-region of Hawke’s Bay,
and is a gem in the NZ winegrowing landscape, with its particular stony soils that enable
winemakers to produce superb Bordeaux style wines, hence our focus.
Our winemaking story began in 1989 and over the years, we have built a relationship with
the fruit coming off these vines. We know what to expect, and are excited to see
consistently high quality, intensity and varietal character emerging with increasing vine
age - our wish list for premium winemaking and it can only get better!
The Winery
Mills Reef Winery itself stands proud on a purpose built complex in Tauranga that was
completed in 1995. It is a modern full winemaking facility with sufficient tank capacity
to crush 750 tonne of fruit each year. Predominantly our tanks hold 16,000L-20,000L. We
also have blending tanks holding up to 50,000L, and much smaller ones down to 1800L to
manage the full spectrum of activities involved throughout the wine’s life cycle. The
working winery is complete with in-house laboratory facilities, bottling plant capable of
processing 10,000L of wine each day, and a warehouse that serves as our distribution
centre.
Our award-winning winemaking team is led by Tim Preston and Paul Dawick who apply their
considerable talents to make Mills Reef wines what they are today.
Winemaking at Mills Reef
As soon as the fruit is harvested, we have a clear vision as to what we want to achieve.
We believe that each wine has its own unique personality, which first presents itself, and
is acknowledged, as the fruit comes off the vine. From then on, its individuality is
sympathetically nurtured throughout the winemaking process.
Machine
picked Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc fruit is harvested in the cool hours of early
morning and then delivered to a winery in Hawke’s Bay, who dejuice the fruit for us.
The ensuing juice is settled, then immediately dispatched to our winery in Tauranga, where
the winemaking team is ready to begin the fermentation process.
Fruit
for our Reserve and Elspeth ranges is selectively hand-picked in the early morning and
delivered directly to Tauranga where it receives the special handling necessary to extract
the full potential of this venerable fruit.
Fermentation may proceed spontaneously or via inoculation of wine yeasts specially
selected for a particular style. A spontaneous fermentation can be unpredictable, but with
careful management can add stunning ethereal qualities including luscious mouth-filling
weightiness to the wine.
Our premium Syrah is fermented within barrel to promote earlier integration of the
aromatic oak, conferring greater complexity, with seamless softer tannin structure. This
is a more labour-intensive process, but we believe is well worth the effort.
Fermentation of our Bordeaux reds take place in open top stainless steel vats that allow
gentle hand plunged cap management and delestage to extract the wonderful colour and
structure we are seeking.
Once the wine has completed fermentation, we match the wine with carefully selected
barrels from our list of preferred coopers, for aging. Our preference is for 300L hogshead
and 400L Integrale barrels coopered from tight-grained quality French and American oak, to
impart subtle structure, weight and also to progress each unique personality of the wine.
This is one area where quality cannot be compromised, and isn’t.
We have two wine cellars for aging the wines – one each to accommodate the red wines
and another for the barrel-aged white wines. Each wine style has a preferred environment,
and temperature control is a key factor. The wines are left undisturbed but under close
observation until ready for blending under the skilful eyes of Tim and Paul.
Blending is the final master stroke in winemaking. It is a true test of the palate where
the winemaker finely tunes the wine to achieve that celebrated, yet sometimes elusive,
perfect balance. Something we can pull together in bucket loads!
Our People
Tim Preston
Chief Winemaker
Paul
Dawick
Winemaker
Vineyards
Hawkes
Bay
Located on the east coast of the North Island at 39 degrees latitude
south, Hawkes Bay enjoys a superior reputation for fine wines from the intermediate and
cooler climate grape varieties.
Climatically speaking Hawkes Bay is diverse, spanning the cool to very
warm spectrum, thanks to the influence of local topography. Typically (although there are
exceptions):
the coastal fringe is
moderated by cooling easterly sea breezes inland
areas on the plains enjoy warm dry Fohn winds from the westerly Ruahine, Kaweka and
Tararua ranges western
and southern hill-country skirting the region enjoys generally cooler and dry weather.
Therefore careful matching of vineyard sites to grape varieties gives
Hawkes Bay the ability rarely seen in other regions to successfully grow a wide array of
grape varieties.
The majority of grape vines however are found on the lower Heretaunga
Plains of Hawkes Bay, which is broadly classified into the following districts:
Coastal
- Bayview, Meeanee and Cape Kidnappers
Inland - Taradale, Gimblett Gravels, Ngatarawa Triangle, and Havelock.
Other
areas found in the hills and valleys include Eskdale, Dartmoor Valley, Tukituki and
Central Hawkes Bay.
To
learn about Mills Reef’s vineyards, Click
Here.
Mills Reef's vineyards are located exclusively in Hawkes Bay. Our chosen
sites are:
stony soils of the warm
inland Gimblett Gravels district for fine Bordeaux-varietal reds and Syrah wines, and sandy
soils of the cooler coastal Meeanne district for fresh lively white wines.
Grapes are sourced from five specially selected vineyards, two of which
are Mills Reef owned (Mere Road Vineyard & Trust Vineyard), whilst the remaining three
are operated under close grower-winery relationships.
Click on the following to learn more about each vineyard:
The "jewel in our crown", our flagship vineyard. A 16 hectare block painstakingly
managed for low yields to produce the very best grapes for our multi-award winning
‘Elspeth’ and ‘Reserve’ wines.
As the vineyard’s name suggests, it is found on Mere Road, at the westerly river end.
Sited in the renowned Gimblett Gravels, the vineyard soils (class 1, 1a, 1b) are extremely
stony and the climate very warm, being perfect terroir for fine grapes.
The
viticulture is intensive with vines planted only a metre apart and grape yields kept
incredibly low to ensure only the very best quality at harvest time.
The
wines from this special vineyard have garnered a long and fine award winning reputation -
trophies, gold medals and five star awards. The vineyard is also rated by leading NZ wine
critic, Michael Cooper, as one of New Zealand’s "notable vineyards", an
endorsement granted only after many years of producing consistently excellent wines.
Mills
Reef Trust Vineyard
Varieties: Syrah,
Cabernet Sauvignon
Sited
on the corner of SH50 and Mere Road in the renowned Gimblett Gravels, this is our youngest
vineyard, but already producing gold medal and trophy winning wines!
Just
4 hectares in size, it was chosen for its extremely stony free-draining soils (class 1, 1a)
and warm climate, ideal for Syrah (80%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (20%) planted there.
The
vineyard design is modeled on top Bordelaise vineyards, hence the viticulture is extremely
intensive:
planting density 6300 vines
per ha (HB typically 2300 – 3700 vines per ha) low
trellising and cordon to take maximum advantage of heat radiated skyward from the stony soils yields kept
extremely low for ultra-premium quality grapes and wines.
Needless
to say, the vineyard is much more labour intensive than the norm and with a low cordon the
work more back breaking! However when the result is exceptional wines, it makes all the pain
and effort worthwhile!
This
vineyard is specially configured to grow grapes for our Mills Reef estate and Reserve ranges
of red wines.
Approximately
14 hectares in size, it is located just off Omahu Road in the Gimblett Gravels, on the stony
soils and warmer climate typical of this district.
Yields
are kept to moderate levels on a 4-cane VSP (vertical shoot positioning) system, with total
replacement of fruiting canes each season.
The
grapes and wines have proven outstanding, with medal-winning recognition for their quality and
style.
Sandy
Road Vineyard
Varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc
As
the vineyard name suggests it has the sandiest soils of all our vineyards, and enjoys cooling
afternoon sea breezes.
This
combination of site location, soils and microclimate has proven superb for the varieties
planted, especially Chardonnay which yields stunning, fruit driven, delicate and beautifully
textured wines.
Powdrell
Road Vineyard
Varieties: Sauvignon
Blanc
A
consistently performing vineyard, which over the years was gradually replanted with ideally
suited vine material. It enjoys cooling afternoon sea breezes and free-draining soils.
The
grapes and wine profile are typical Sauvignon, crisp and herbaceous with trademark Hawkes Bay
tropical fruit aromas and flavours.
The
vineyard is also of significant historical importance, being the site of one of Hawkes Bay's
oldest churches dating back to the mid-1800's, built and used by the Missionaries who first
settled the region. Today the church has been renovated to its former glory and lives on as
The Old Church Restaurant. www.theoldchurch.co.nz.
Tasting Room
Mills Reef invites you to visit our Tasting Room, where we have so many of
our wines available for a free tasting. Take the opportunity to learn about the famous
Gimblett Gravels of Hawkes Bay where our award winning wines come from.
For
a full list of wines currently available for purchase click | HERE |
Open 7 days a week 10am-5pm Open for Dinner - Thursday Evenings
Machine
picked Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc fruit is harvested in the cool hours of early
morning and then delivered to a winery in Hawke’s Bay, who dejuice the fruit for us.
The ensuing juice is settled, then immediately dispatched to our winery in Tauranga, where
the winemaking team is ready to begin the fermentation process.
