Feature | Hawke's Bay
The Bridge Pa Triangle is one of Hawkes Bay’s premier wine subregions, nestled in the warm inland flats west of Hastings where once the great Ngaruroro river flowed. Charmian Smith explores the Triangle’s cellar doors and discovers the delicious reds and complex whites grown there.
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WineNZ Magazine | Summer 2021/2022
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any of New Zealand’s prized wine growing districts are found on the deep gravels left behind when braided rivers change their courses. The Ngaruroro river in Hawkes Bay has produced two such distinctive areas, the Gimblett Gravels and the Bridge Pa Triangle. Millennia ago it flowed though a gap in the hills near what is now Bridge Pa, past Pakipaki, then out to sea near Havelock North, building up its bed with stones and gravel. About ten thousand years ago it moved north to what is now the Gimblett Gravels wine district, then in 1867 during another big flood it moved to Twyford.
