The Terraces: 12 vintages of Esk Valley’s top Hawke’s Bay red

To mark the 30th anniversary of The Terraces, one of New Zealand’s premium red Bordeaux blends, Decanter was invited to an exclusive tasting of a dozen vintages with head winemaker Gordon Russell.

By Cameron Douglas MS

published 14 August 2021

in Tastings

The Terraces-Heipipi Vineyard Esk Valley — The Heipipi Vineyard, fruit source of Esk Valley's premium Bordeaux blend The Terraces.

(Image credit: Villa Maria)

The story of Esk Valley and The Terraces label begins in 1933 when Robert Bird established Glenvale Winery & Cellars at Bay View in the north of Hawke’s Bay.

Producing mainly Port and Sherry wines, Bird built a successful business sourcing grapes from growers around the region as well as from his own site. This included a steep, north-facing, terraced vineyard that he planted in the 1940s.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores from an exclusive vertical of 12 vintages of Esk Valley’s The Terraces

However the yields and cost of production became prohibitive. So Bird decommissioned the vineyard and replanted it with pine trees.

When the third generation of the Bird family inherited the company, they started making small quantities of varietal wine using Esk Valley as a new brand name. With a market shifting into table wines, the potential for wine production grew.

In 1986 Sir George Fistonich (who founded Villa Maria in 1961) purchased the Glenvale land and assets after it fell into receivership. Sir George transformed the company away from fortified production into boutique table wine solely under the Esk Valley name and, in 1988, made the decision to resurrect the former terraced vineyard.

The pines were felled, the terraces reformed and, in 1989, the 1ha vineyard was planted to Malbec, Merlot and Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon. With its north-facing aspect and mix of limestone, volcanic ash, clay and shell deposits, it is a unique site.

(In August, New Zealand’s largest contract winemaker, Indevin, announced it would acquire Villa Maria Estates. Villa Maria’s parent company, FFML, went into receivership in May 2021.)

Heipipi: the pinnacle of Esk Valley

While long known as just The Terraces, from the 2013 vintage (including on bottle labels) this organically managed, dry-farmed and low-yielding vineyard has been referred to as Heipipi.

This is the Te Reo Mãori name for the top of the hill where the vineyards lie, and where a Pa (hilltop fortress) sat atop the terraces for more than 400 years. The Terraces is now the name of this iconic single-vineyard cuvée, with its second-label – The Hillside – also sourced from Heipipi.

‘Heipipi is a grand amphitheatre and the pinnacle of what we do,’ says head winemaker Gordon Russell. ’It never fails to impress and showcase what a grand site it is. It’s also still in good health which allows us to maximise the benefit of what are now old vines.’

Gordon Russell, head winemaker Esk Valley — Gordon Russell, head winemaker at Esk Valley.

Russell joined the Villa Maria team in 1988 as a cellarhand, working with then chief winemaker Kym Milne MW. When an assistant winemaker position came up at Esk Valley (one of several brands in the Villa Maria portfolio), Russell moved to Hawke’s Bay in late 1989 to take up the role, under then head winemaker Grant Edmonds.

Russell was responsible for The Terraces from 1992, its second vintage, and became head of winemaking in 1993.

Making wine at Esk Valley presented Russell with a slew of new challenges. Not least of which was using concrete fermenters with no temperature control. But he soon learned this kind of treatment contributed subtle differences and complexities in each ferment.

‘The whole progression of winemaking for The Terraces aims to capture the grandeur and uniqueness of the site in bottle. When you taste the wine you are literally tasting the place,’ says Russell.

The Terraces: from grape to glass

The Terraces collection is something special. Tasting through 12 vintages reveals a consistent quality, timeline and rare look into the influences of vine age, vintage and climate from the very first 1991 vintage to the current 2018 release.

Esk Valley The Terraces Pacific Ocean — The amphitheatre of the terraced Heipipi Vineyard with the Pacific Ocean behind.

Fruit is hand harvested on one day, then sorted, destemmed and lightly crushed into a single open-topped concrete fermenter. Hand plunging gives full extraction of colour and tannin, and maturation is in new and one-year-old French barrels. It is racked as needed, then bottled after 17 to 22 months, depending on the vintage.

While the inaugural 1991 vintage was a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, from 2002 Russell dropped the Cabernet Sauvignon. He harvests the remaining three varieties (Malbec dominant since 2002) as a field blend and co-ferments them. Recent vintages make use of wild yeast and the wine is bottled without either fining or filtration.

The Terraces: 12 vintages of Esk Valley’s top Hawke’s Bay red

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores from an exclusive vertical of 12 vintages of Esk Valley’s The Terraces

Heipipi: the pinnacle of Esk Valley

The Terraces: from grape to glass