GIANTS WINERY
Te Mata Peak, the 'Sleeping Giant' towers 400 metres above sea level and offers stunning views of the Hawke’s Bay and provides a breathtaking backdrop for our Giants Winery. Beneath its rugged contours lies a powerful story of love and the ultimate sacrifice.
A Maori chief called Heretaunga once ruled this land. His rival, a fearsome giant of a man called Te Mata O Rongokaka waged war on Heretaunga for many years until one day he caught sight of Heretaunga’s daughter, Hinerakau. He was so struck by the young maiden’s beauty that he fell instantly in love with her and vowed to make her his own. He knew that in order to make her love him he must stop his warmongering ways and try to woo her. Although reluctant at first to even consider him, she decided to set him seemingly impossible tasks, convinced he would fail. Driven by his desire for her, he completed them all, except for one. She told him he must eat his way through the mountain. He flung his huge bulk into the side of the hill and begun crushing the rock with his teeth. Desperately he chewed his way through, but in his haste he choked on a large boulder and fell dead to the ground.
And so Te Mata Peak was formed in the shape of the sleeping giant lying for all eternity in unrequited love.
Our Giants Winery is the heart and soul of Craggy Range. This is where the Craggy Range experience begins, with our Terrôir Restaurant, Cellar Door and Cellar Master’s Cottage all based here, as are our business offices.
Inspired by the farming architecture of New Zealand and the glamour of Bordeaux, architect John Blair, designer Pamela Brown and the Peabody family, have created something very special. Locally sourced natural materials, circular and barn - like forms, a patchwork of different buildings each with their own purpose, surrounded by lakes, lawns, and of course a vineyard.
However this is not just about glamour - here two of our most prized wines, "Sophia" and "The Quarry", are made in their own specially designed fermentation and barrel cellars. The Giants winery is a collection of three cellars - a circular cellar called "Sophia", where Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon are fermented separately in 8000 litre French oak cuves; a temperature controlled secondary fermentation cellar; and an underground maturation cellar, appropriately called "The Quarry".
This is not only an aesthetically inspirational winery designed by John Blair and our winemaking team, it is also efficient and has all of the technology that the State Highway 50 winery has.