Esk Valley

Concrete, fruit, and a long Hawke's Bay hand

Open-top concrete fermenters set the rhythm for Gordon Russell, winemaker at Esk Valley in Roys Hill, where Hawke's Bay fruit is still treated as the first instruction. Russell began close to the cellar floor, working vintage at Bellamour Winery in West Auckland in 1986, before the long Esk Valley chapter that made his name: winemaker and later senior winemaker from 1993 to 2023. The house's current account of his station keeps him in post as winemaker, and the work associated with him remains clear, new grape varieties and wine styles handled through a traditional, hands-off method.

Esk Valley itself carries an older line. Robert Bird established the original winery in 1933 as Glenvale, in the northern reaches of Hawke's Bay near the Esk Valley and the Pacific Ocean. Villa Maria acquired it in 1986, under Sir George Fistonich, and renamed it Esk Valley. The change moved the house away from port and sherry toward premium reds and whites, still small in feeling, still grounded in fruit and vessel rather than display. Russell's part in that shift came through care in the vineyard and restraint in the cellar, a discipline that suited a winery with historic northern Hawke's Bay cellars and a newer presence at Roys Hill in the Gimblett Gravels.

Small batches in concrete

The method here begins before the crush. Esk Valley works with hand-picked grapes, then ferments in small batches so each parcel can keep its own shape. For red wines, the old open-top concrete fermenters matter: they hold temperature naturally and allow extraction without turning the wine into a technical exercise. The house also uses wild yeast fermentation and extended lees ageing, particularly for whites, letting texture come from time rather than a heavy hand.

The range is broad for a boutique producer. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Syrah and Chardonnay sit beside Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Verdelho, with Hawke's Bay giving weight to reds and fuller whites, and Marlborough contributing aromatic whites. Russell's signature at Esk Valley includes The Terraces, New Zealand's first Malbec, Verdelho, Merlot Rose, and a Merlot, Malbec, Cabernets blend. Those bottles explain the house better than a slogan: Bordeaux varieties, less common plantings, and a willingness to let an uncommon grape earn its place in the program.

Vineyard country, cellar-door pace

The room is relaxed rather than staged. The cellar door sits in Hawke's Bay vineyard country, away from an urban street, with the kind of conversational pace that lets the glass and the place meet without hurry. On sunny days the setting does some of the work, and the staff's familiarity with the wines lets a tasting move from Syrah to Verdelho without treating either as a novelty.

The winery's history also gives the room a split character: the memory of northern Hawke's Bay concrete and old cellars, and the present pull of Roys Hill and the Gimblett Gravels. That is the useful tension at Esk Valley. The cellar has changed sites, the vessels still matter, and the line from Glenvale to The Terraces remains visible in the glass.