Church Road Winery

Church Road's founding story is genuinely entangled with the Catholic origins of Hawke's Bay viticulture. Bartholomew Steinmetz, a Luxembourg-born ex-Marist Brother, came to New Zealand in the late 19th century and worked as a winemaker for the Society of Mary's mission vineyard at Greenmeadows, the operation now known as Mission Estate Winery and itself the oldest winemaker in the country. In 1897 Steinmetz acquired a parcel of land on what is now Church Road in Taradale, a few minutes north of the Mission site, from the Marist Brothers and established his own small commercial winery, initially producing fortified wines (sherries, ports, and muscats) in the Catholic-mission style of the day. The location is not incidental: the limestone-influenced terraces between Taradale and the Tuki Tuki Valley sit at the warm northern end of Hawke's Bay's coastal plain, which is what eventually made Cabernet Sauvignon ripening reliable here when little else in New Zealand could ripen it. Steinmetz ran the business for the next quarter century before returning to Luxembourg in the early 1920s; he is remembered today as one of the founding fathers of New Zealand winemaking, and Church Road's apex TOM wines are sometimes described as a double tribute, to McDonald primarily but also to the older Luxembourg pioneer who chose the site.

• Bartholomew Steinmetz, Luxembourg-born and Marist-trained, founded the winery in 1897 on a Taradale parcel adjacent to the Society of Mary mission at Greenmeadows (today's Mission Estate)
• Steinmetz initially made fortified wines (sherries, ports, muscats) for local and church-adjacent markets in the Catholic-mission style
• The original Church Road site sits on the warm northern coastal plain of Hawke's Bay, with limestone-influenced soils between Taradale and the Tuki Tuki Valley
• Steinmetz returned to Luxembourg in the early 1920s; the business passed to a teenage Tom McDonald who would define the next 65 years of New Zealand red winemaking

Thomas Bayne McDonald (1907-1987) is the central figure of the Church Road story and arguably the central figure of New Zealand red winemaking history. Born at Greenmeadows in 1907 to an Ayrshire-Scottish carrier and his Napier-born wife, McDonald started his wine career in 1918-1919 as a bottle-washer at the Society of Mary's mission. In 1921, aged 14, he joined Bartholomew Steinmetz at the Taradale winery and learned the fortified-wine craft from the Luxembourg founder. When Steinmetz returned to Europe McDonald leased the business and in 1927, aged just 19, bought it outright. The company was renamed McDonald Wines Ltd in 1944, a modern winery building was constructed at Taradale in 1948, and in 1949 McDonald produced the wine that changed New Zealand's table-wine identity: a Cabernet Sauvignon that is universally cited as the country's first commercial varietal red. Through the 1950s and 1960s, in a country still dominated by fortified wine and hybrid grape plantings, McDonald's Cabernets and his pioneering Chardonnays were among the first New Zealand dry table wines to be taken internationally seriously, and by the 1960s critics were drawing comparisons to Bordeaux first growths. In 1962 McDonald Wines merged with McWilliam's Wines of Australia and Tom was named production director, a role he held effectively for the rest of his working life. He was appointed an OBE for services to winemaking in the 1974 New Year Honours and is universally referred to as the father of New Zealand red winemaking. He died in 1987, a year before Montana purchased the site and a decade before the wines that now bear his name went on sale.

• Thomas Bayne McDonald OBE (1907-1987), Hawke's Bay born; joined Steinmetz as a 14-year-old bottle-washer in 1921; bought the winery outright in 1927 at age 19
• Renamed McDonald Wines Ltd in 1944; built the modern winery on the Church Road site at Taradale in 1948
• 1949 Cabernet Sauvignon: universally cited as New Zealand's first commercial varietal Cabernet and the wine that opened the modern New Zealand red wine era; his Cabernets through the 1950s and 1960s were compared to Bordeaux first growths
• Merged McDonald Wines with McWilliam's Wines in 1962, becoming production director; OBE for services to winemaking, 1974; died 1987

Montana Wines, then New Zealand's largest wine company, purchased the historic Taradale winery from McWilliam's in 1988, a year after Tom McDonald's death. The acquisition was strategically straightforward: Montana wanted a premium Hawke's Bay red wine flagship, the McDonald site was the most storied red wine address in the country, and there was no plausible second choice. Montana then made an equally consequential move in 1989, bringing in winemakers from Domaines Cordier of Bordeaux to install classic French techniques on the McDonald site and to establish a programme focused unambiguously on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Bordeaux blends. The Church Road brand was launched in 1989-1990, anchored on the original road address and the rebuilt cellar; the Tom McDonald Cellar followed in 1999, doubling as a working barrel hall and as the formal launching venue for the flagship TOM wine. Ownership has changed twice since: Allied Domecq bought Montana in 2001, Pernod Ricard bought Allied Domecq in 2005, and Church Road has operated continuously as the premium Hawke's Bay arm of Pernod Ricard NZ for two decades. (Pernod Ricard agreed to sell most of its global wine portfolio to Australian Wine Holdco in 2025, but Church Road and the wider Pernod Ricard New Zealand business have been retained within the group.) The continuity that matters is at the cellar floor: chief winemaker Chris Scott joined as a cellar hand in 1998, has run the cellar since 2005, and connects the modern Church Road programme directly back to the early Cordier era.

• Montana Wines purchased the McDonald winery in 1988 as its premium Hawke's Bay red wine flagship; one year after Tom McDonald's death
• 1989: Domaines Cordier of Bordeaux dispatched winemakers to install classic French techniques and to refocus the programme on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Bordeaux blends
• Church Road brand launched 1989-1990; Tom McDonald Cellar opened 1999, doubling as a working barrel hall and the formal launching venue for the inaugural TOM
• Ownership: Allied Domecq acquired Montana in 2001; Pernod Ricard acquired Allied Domecq in 2005; Church Road has operated as the premium Hawke's Bay estate of Pernod Ricard NZ since

Church Road is an estate-trained winery without a single estate vineyard in the Burgundian sense; instead it commands premium long-contracted blocks across the three Hawke's Bay sub-regions that matter most for the styles it makes. The Gimblett Gravels (about 800 hectares of free-draining, heat-retaining greywacke gravel laid down by the Ngaruroro River) and the adjacent Bridge Pa Triangle (red metals soil with a thin top layer of more organic loam) supply the great majority of Church Road's Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah; in a region as cool as Hawke's Bay these are the only sub-regions where Cabernet Sauvignon ripens reliably, which is why every serious red wine in the Church Road hierarchy depends on them. The Tuki Tuki Valley, inland of the coast and the coolest of the three sub-regions, supplies the Chardonnay programme: limestone-influenced soils give the wines mineral lift, and afternoon sea breezes preserve the high natural acidity that defines the Grand Reserve and TOM Chardonnay style. Church Road's standard Estate Chardonnay and Pinot Gris draw on broader Hawke's Bay sourcing. The McDonald Series Pinot Noir, the rare McDonald Series varietals, and the Marzemino, Tempranillo, and Viognier in the wider portfolio sit largely outside the Bordeaux core but use the same long-contracted block structure across Heretaunga.

• Gimblett Gravels: free-draining greywacke gravel laid by the old Ngaruroro River course; principal source for Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc; the heat-retaining soils are what make ripe Cabernet possible in Hawke's Bay
• Bridge Pa Triangle: red metals with a thin loam top; warm, slightly more fertile than the Gravels; complementary source for Merlot, Cabernet, and Syrah
• Tuki Tuki Valley: limestone-influenced soils inland of the coast; the coolest of the three sub-regions; afternoon sea breezes preserve high natural acidity; principal source for Grand Reserve and TOM Chardonnay and for the Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Tuki Tuki Chardonnay
• Hawke's Bay enjoys a Mediterranean-style climate with around 2,200 sunshine hours annually; coastal moderation keeps growing season temperatures within range for both Bordeaux varieties and Chardonnay

Church Road's portfolio is structured as a five-tier hierarchy that maps deliberately onto the McDonald legacy and the Bordeaux model. The Church Road Estate range (Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Merlot, occasionally Sauvignon Blanc) is the entry-premium tier and the volume engine, broadly sourced across Hawke's Bay and priced for everyday access. The McDonald Series, named to honour Tom McDonald, sits one rung higher and is the mid-premium tier most commonly seen internationally; it is built around single-varietal wines (Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Syrah, Pinot Noir) made from selected blocks and bearing McDonald's name and silhouette. The Grand Reserve range is the senior premium tier and the bottle that earns most of Church Road's competition trophies in non-flagship vintages: Grand Reserve Cabernet Merlot from the Gimblett Gravels, Grand Reserve Chardonnay almost exclusively from two Tuki Tuki Valley vineyards, Grand Reserve Syrah from the Gravels and Bridge Pa. The 1 (One) series, often written Church Road 1, is the single-vineyard single-variety tier introduced in the 2010s to express specific blocks (the Tuki Tuki 1 Chardonnay and 1 Syrah being the most cited). The apex TOM range, made only in exceptional vintages and named in McDonald's memory, comprises TOM Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (the original; debuted with the 1995 vintage; Merlot-dominant since 1998 in most vintages), TOM Chardonnay from Tuki Tuki, and TOM Syrah; the 2025 International Wine Challenge named the TOM Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2020 World's Best Merlot, an unusual recognition for what is technically a Bordeaux blend.

• Estate range: entry-premium volume tier; Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Merlot; broad Hawke's Bay sourcing
• McDonald Series: mid-premium single-varietal tier named for Tom McDonald; Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Syrah, Pinot Noir; selected blocks
• Grand Reserve: senior premium tier; Cabernet Merlot, Chardonnay (Tuki Tuki Valley), Syrah; the bottle that earns most of Church Road's day-to-day trophies
• 1 (One) single-vineyard series: introduced in the 2010s; Tuki Tuki Chardonnay and Bridge Pa Syrah are the most cited; precise single-block expressions
• TOM: apex tier in exceptional vintages only; debut 1995 vintage launched 1999; Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (Bordeaux blend, Merlot-dominant since the late 1990s), Chardonnay (Tuki Tuki), Syrah

Chief Winemaker Chris Scott is the longest continuous voice of the modern Church Road era. He joined the cellar in 1998 as a cellar hand while finishing a wine science degree, was appointed Senior Winemaker in 2005, and has been the public face of the programme since. He has been named Winestate Magazine's New Zealand Winemaker of the Year five times (2013, 2016, 2020, 2021, and 2022), making him one of the most decorated winemakers in the country. Under Scott, Church Road has accumulated a near-unbroken trophy record at the Hawke's Bay Wine Awards (six categories at the 2024 Hawke's Bay Wine Awards alone, including both Cabernet-dominant and Merlot-dominant red blends, Syrah, and Sauvignon Semillon) and at the New Zealand and International Wine Challenges; the 2020 TOM Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot was named World's Best Merlot at the 2025 International Wine Challenge. Church Road wines are routinely the most expensive lots at the annual Hawke's Bay Wine Auction, and the TOM and 1 series command secondary-market premiums unusual for New Zealand wine. The home itself is part of the story: the Taradale winery sits on the original 1897 site, with the 1948 McDonald cellar building still in use, the 1999 Tom McDonald Cellar housing the flagship-tier barrels, and the celebrated underground museum carved out of the original concrete fermentation vats, where the side walls were cut open to create archways linking each tank as a room of artefacts and ancient wine-related pottery. The museum, cellar door, and on-site restaurant make Church Road one of Hawke's Bay's most-visited cellar doors and a permanent destination on the New Zealand wine trail.

• Chris Scott: cellar hand 1998; Senior Winemaker 2005; Winestate New Zealand Winemaker of the Year five times (2013, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022)
• Six trophies at the 2024 Hawke's Bay Wine Awards; TOM Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2020 named World's Best Merlot at the 2025 International Wine Challenge; consistent top results at New Zealand and international wine competitions
• Underground museum: archways cut between original 1897-1948 concrete fermentation vats; artefacts dating back 3,000 years; tartrate-studded walls; one of the most architecturally distinctive winery visits in New Zealand
• On-site Tom McDonald Cellar (1999), working barrel halls, cellar door, and restaurant; Taradale is 10 minutes from Napier and a permanent stop on the Hawke's Bay wine trail