Church Road is a multi-award wining wine producer and one of my favourite winery. It is one of the best syrah wine producer in New Zealand and it is located in the Hawke’s Bay region. I’m a big fan of Church Road’s winemaker Chris Scott who won NZ winemaker of 2016. His wine making philosophy of big and bold wine and the use of giant wine vats to ferment their wines are just awesome! The perfect weather condition in 2013 and 2014 in the Hawke’s Bay region led Church Road to produce some of the best wines in NZ. The great effort was marked by the released of two consecutive years (2013, 2014) of their top range wine collection : TOM CABERNET MERLOT, TOM CHARDONNAY and TOM SYRAH (the trio on the top shelf in the photo below).

These wines were made to be cellared and are the best showcase of NZ finest wine. Word of caution, they are not cheap by NZ standard, retailed between NZ$150 to NZ$200. But their next collection range Grand Reserve is just as good! I will provide a detail review of this range later, Grand Reserve Chardonnay – flavourful and buttery and Grand Reserve Syrah – simply delicious and bold.

I visited the winery and cellar door in June 2016. To my surprise, it was located in a residential area on a road called “Church Road”. The winery had a huge grass area in front of the cellar door where summer concert events would be held.

On the day I visited, a group of vintage car fans decided to visit the winery to catch up. It was quite a treat to be able to see the very well maintained vintage cars.

As soon as you entered the cellar door, you will be greeted warmly by the host to welcome you to either a wine tasting course or dine at their restaurant. The wine tasting was between $5 to $15 depending on the wine tasting range. A bit costly compared to other wineries but you will be served by highly knowledgeable and friendly staff and with generous amount of wine samples! The TOM range was not available for tasting for obvious reasons, but their Estate, McDonald Series and Grand Reserves were all available for tasting.

Behind the wine tasting counter, there were several rows of oak barrels on display. I believe those were retired oak barrels used to make their fine wines. It’s a nice display and you can dine among the barrels and soak in the wine making atmosphere.

I was hungry from all the cycling I did on the day, so I decided to have a late lunch there. I ordered the delicious pork belly paired with the Church Road Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2014.

It was a good match but was a bit overpowering due to the flavoursome and buttery taste of the chardonnay. I think a pinot gris would be a better pairing option in this case. It was a great experience nonetheless and I left with big smile on my face =)

Getting there

Hawke’s Bay is located in the North Island of New Zealand and it is a region consists of different areas. If you travel by air from Auckland or Wellington, it takes about 60 minutes either way and you will land at Napier airport. If you choose to drive from Auckland, it takes just over 5 hours and just under 4 hours if you drive from Wellington.

Once you have arrived in the Hawke’s Bay region, you may like to try the infamous Coastal Wine Cycles. Church Road Winery is one of the destination in the cycle routes on offer, but just make sure you hydrate yourself sufficiently. Please take care after a few wine tastings here and there and cycling under the heat from the sun could be a bad idea. However, there are plenty of wine tour options you can take which will include transportation or you may choose to drive there yourself with the help of Google maps.

Handy Tip: Usually, booking is not required if you want to dine at the restaurant. If the restaurant is full, there are plenty of outdoor seating with and without sun shades, quite nice during summer time. They are open 7 days. Enjoy =)