New Zealand – Napier and Wine Tasting in Hawke’s Bay
We stopped for a day and night in the cute town of Napier on our route from Auckland to Wellington. Wine tasting in Hawke’s Bay is a must when you are in the area. Napier is famous as being an art deco town. A lot of the city needed to be rebuilt after an earthquake in the 1930s and it’s super cute!! Straight outta Great Gatsby! Lots of vintage shops where you can get flapper outfits, headbands, and postcards or magnet souvenirs. It’s a bit of a sleepy place at night, but during the day the walk along the coast is well trafficked. If you take the coast walk make sure to stop and see the New Zealand version of the Copenhagen mermaid, Pania of the Reef.
The National Aquarium of New Zealand
We had an early arrival in Napier… a bit to early to start drinking wine. Most of the wineries start tastings at 11:00am. We wandered around the downtown center and the coast to admire the architecture. We ended up finding ourselves outside an aquarium around 10am, so we decided to pop in and kill time for an hour.
The little aquarium was a pleasant surprise! The highlight was the kiwi bird. They are nocturnal so their enclosure was completely dark, but once our eyes adjusted we saw that they were awake and waddling around. They are very very cute!
At a Glance:
- Rating: 3 stars, would do it again, if in the area
- Location: Coastal city in Hawke’s Bay region, north of the city of Hastings
- Cost $0-$10 for tastings
- Restrooms: Plentiful at the wineries
Highlights:
- Chardonnay, ciders, art deco architecture!
- Giant turtle and kiwi birds
Mission Estate Winery
Finally it’s 11:00am, aka time to taste some wine! Stop #1 was at Mission Estate Winery, a beautiful buidling we spotted on our drive. It seemed like a popular spot, so I’m glad we got there early. We walked around the grounds a little bit and then stopped in the tasting room. For $6 NZD we got 6 generously poured tastings which included both whites and reds. We learned that the Hawke’s Bay region is known for exceptional Chardonnays as well as rich red blends. My favorite from Mission Estates was the Gewurztraminer – it was floral and full bodied and perfectly refreshing.
Moana Park Winery
Moana Park is all about sustainable, vegan, low addititive wines. I never realized how many different animal bi-product additives are often used in wine making. These usually include bone marrow, milk protein, egg albumen, fish oil, and gelatin :O
The tasting room here is small but cozy and very nice. We got a seat at the communal tasting table where we sat with another couple. We had a generous tasting of 7-8 different wines. About halfway through our tasting the wine maker came to sit at the table with us and it was such a pleasure to chat with him about his wine making philosophy!
The winery is passionate about being additive free and they also care about reducing their enviromental footprint – low water useage, energy consumption, and waste reduction. The wines are also fabulous! My favorite is the viognier – it was full of flavor, not too sweet, but still with a delicate finish. We bought a bottle to bring home and the price point is around $25-55 per bottle.
The Filter Room Ale & Cider House
We were definitely starting to fill a bit tipsy but still ready to try more! My sweet tooth was craving some cider and we stopped at the adorable cider house before an afternoon nap.
The Filter Room had picnic tables outside and a bar inside. We can’t comment on the food cause we only tried a cider flight, but the cider was good! I always love a tasting flight and they had a good selection of different ciders. We choose 6 ciders for the taste and then proceeded to stumble back to our Airbnb for lunch and a nap.
Napier – Overall Thoughts
The Napier / Hawke’s Bay area was a nice stop on our New Zealand roadtrip, especially since we love wine! It definitely felt like a sleepy little area, so I’m glad we started our day early. It is a beautiful area with all the wineries and the coastline. We drove here from Taupo and it was only 2 hours. The art deco architecture is so adorable as well! For wine lovers or architecture fans it’s a must see in New Zealand. We appreciated the slow pace of life and the charm with Napier amidst a busy roadtrip across the country. I’m happy we included it and I’d definitely stop again (most likely for more wine).
I love tasting wine everywhere we travel! What are your favorite wine adventures?
Happy travels!
