Nga Waka mirrors Kupe Canoes

At Nga Waka Winery on the other side of town, general manager Mick Hodson said the response to the winery’s new cellar-door facility “has been fantastic … with lots of really good feedback from our educational tastings.”

With the new premises, Hodson said the post-Covid recovery has been strong and really hasn’t slowed down, attracting people from all over the country – and internationally as well.

“People come here and we have a perfect site for it. Our focus isn’t dining, though we do serve meals, but very much wine education, tasting and wine sales.”

The architecture award-winning building was designed by local architect Victoria Read and built by Greytown’s Holmes Construction.

“It’s great that a small Martinborough architectural firm could win a major award against all the big companies,” he said.

The build came in within its $2 million dollar budget “from start to fitout,” with contract variations “less than 2%. It was a good outcome, (and) we also had good support from the council.”

The building’s form and orientation draws inspiration from the legend of Nga Waka o Kupe (the Canoes of Kupe) which are landmarks of South Wairarapa.

Nga Waka was first planted in 1988 and produced its first wines in 1993, “so we’ve just completed our 31st vintage,” Hodson said.

Nga Waka produces predominantly Pinot Noir (60%) and Chardonnay (30%) and has just planted new Gamay and Chenin Blanc vines. 

The terrible summer weather and reduced sunshine hours meant the 2023 summer was very wet. 

Chardonnay is, however, “generally good,” he said, though the Pinot Noir was “a difficult vintage and we’re looking forward to 2024. But 2018 – 21 were very good, so you have to take the good with the bad.”