Hawke's Bay is one of New Zealand's established North Island wine regions.
The factor that most influences New Zealand's grapes, and hence its wines, is the coolness of the climate: the country has some of the coolest maritime wine regions in the New World, and because of the long, narrow shape of the two main islands no vineyard is more than 80 miles (130 kilometres) from the sea.
That cool, steady climate allows grapes to ripen evenly and gently over a long growing season, culminating in a harvest that can take place anytime from March to May.
In favourable years the length of the growing season leads to elegant wines with wonderfully pure flavours — it is often said that New Zealand produce, grapes included, has an intensity of flavour rarely found elsewhere — and a cool climate also means the grapes carry a good amount of natural acidity, which for top whites translates into a dazzling sense of crispness.
New Zealand's wine industry remains tiny by global standards, accounting for less than 1 percent of world production.
