For a winery that has staked so much of its identity (four of its five Prestige Collection wines and its Giant's Winery) on Hawke's Bay, Craggy Range has a surprisingly strong focus on Martinborough these days.

The winery's evolution has seen its impressive wines have taken many turns over the years, including approximately three quarters of its vineyards now being situated in the majestic, often windswept Te Muna Valley, Martinborough.

This is home to more Sauvignon Blanc than any other variety, with over 200 hectares of the valley's approximately 340 hectares. The balance is predominantly Pinot Noir which puts a powerful foot forward for both this winery and the country at large, shining a strong light on the potential possibilities for cool climate reds.

The interview below with chief winemaker Ben Tombs was a chat focussed on the top five wines from Craggy Range, only one of which comes from Martinborough. The wines are called the Craggy Range Prestige Collection and are made every year, with the exception of the Quarry (a Cabernet-led wine, which is produced rarely and in drier, warmer years).

Tombs began at Craggy Range in June 2021 after moving up from Central Otago, in time to catch the tail end of vintage in Hawke's Bay. "I got a bird's eye view at the wines through the ageing process and took over as chief winemaker in December 2023."

He had been assistant winemaker at Peregrine in the Gibbston Valley, Central Otago, which also gave him a bird's eye view - through the lens of Pinot Noir. This experience comes to fruition in his role at Craggy Range, which is highly focussed on Pinot Noir in Martinborough.

Crystal ball gazing vintage 2025

Asked to comment on the 2025 vintage based on spring growth and bud burst at the time of interview, in early November 2024, Toms says the vintage in Hawke's Bay is likely to be early.

"We've got good shoot growth and I think we're going to track early this year. We'd normally be flowering in the third to last week in November but we're probably going to be early this year."

Budburst had yet to begin in Te Muna Valley, which typically comes a week or three later than in the vineyards around Martinborough village and other areas of the Wairarapa at Gladstone and Masterton. Thankfully, flowering in both the Bay and early signs from Martinborough village are both looking good, which bodes well for a strong vintage following the small but high quality 2024 vintage and the extremely challenging years of 2023 and 2022. 

Tasting Craggy Range Prestige Collection wines

The Prestige Collection wines are all single vineyard bottlings and Tombs says the aim is to show the place, with less artifice at the heart of the winery's aim.

"We don't need lots of new oak or extraction and we've dialled this right back. This makes for a lot less polish but far more refined wines."

This is a stark contrast to the Prestige Collection wines of the early 2000s, which each made a strong statement of ripeness and power, albeit often in polarising styles which saw, for instance, Aroha (the prestige collection Pinot Noir) wearing a large amount of new oak. But times, says Tombs, have changed, and the consumer no longer wants that big style. 

Here are my reviews of the 2022 Prestige Collection wines

18.5/20

2022 Craggy Range Aroha, Te Muna Road, Martinborough RRP $170

A very beautiful, very perfumed wine from a very challenging vintage. The 2022 Aroha is a powerful Pinot Noir led by notes of spice and red fruit in a medium bodied style that is noticeably lighter in body than many previous vintages of Aroha but still retains depth of fruit and secondary complexity with big, powerful aromas and robust tannins giving it longevity for four to five years, potentially longer. I love this wine now and look forward to trying to again over the next couple of years.
Aroha means love in Māori and there's a lot to love in this wine, which has been my top scoring Te Muna Valley Pinot Noir at three tastings now. 

Despite the challenging vintage, Tombs says it was never a consideration not to make it. 

"Fortunately, we had 2019, 2020 and 2021 - three very good vintages in a row - so it's always a bit daunting when you have a lighter vintage but you'd be kicking yourself if you didn't do it and it still showcases the site. It's lighter but all the attributes are there."

17.5/20

2022 Craggy Range Le Beaux Cailloux, Gimblett Gravels Hawke's Bay RRP $170

This is the fifth vintage of Les Beaux Cailloux since the vineyard was replanted and with 12 months maturation in oak (a third of which is in larger format; puncheons, which is less impactful on the wine), the flavours have notes of creamy texture, spice and ripe stone fruit, all aligned with each other in a complex youthful wine that will benefit from two to three years of age.

Picking dates for the grapes have been becoming earlier than in the past; often in February for Chardonnay, says chief winemaker Ben Tombs. "We want to retain acidity from this relatively warm site so we want to reflect a more restrained style of wine. It'll still always have this richness because it's a warm site but we pick early to hold acidity and also retain leaf cover to further retain acidity."

17.5/20

2022 Craggy Range Le Sol, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay RRP $170

Le Sol is an impressively complex, densely coloured purple Syrah with ripe black plum and dense dark stewed from flavours. It's made from the warmest part of the Craggy Range vineyard and one of the stoniest areas on the Gimblett Gravels but the focus is on rope grapes rather than extractive styles of wine. This vintage, 2022, was a low yielding year, which led to a concentrated and exciting Syrah, which was aged in 500 litre oak barrels, 45% new, for 17 months. 

17.5/20

2022 Craggy Range Sophia, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay RRP $140

This was a very good Merlot vintage, which is reflected in the higher percentage of Merlot (80%) used in this blend. The balance is made up of Cabernet Sauvignon, which adds dark fruit flavours and complex layers of black olive and dried herbs aromatically. It is an incredibly youthful wine right now and needs at least another three to four years to reveal itself at its smoothest, most complex best. The wine was aged for 17 months in oak in a third new oak. 

• No Quarry was made from 2022.