Mission Estate Winery
The first vines planted in Hawke's Bay were not meant for pleasure. In 1851, French Catholic Marist missionaries established a vineyard at the Pakowhai mission station for a single purpose: producing sacramental wine for Mass. They could not have known they were founding New Zealand's oldest surviving winemaking operation, one that would still be producing wine more than 170 years later. Mission Estate Winery remains wholly New Zealand-owned, a distinction that grows rarer as international investment reshapes the country's wine industry.
From Sacrament to Commerce
The Marists were practical missionaries. Having established their spiritual foothold, they turned to commerce. More vineyards followed at Meeanee, and by 1870 the mission recorded its first commercial sale of wines. What had begun as a liturgical necessity became a business, though one still rooted in the rhythms of religious life. The original mission buildings at Pakowhai are gone, but St Mary's Church, built in 1863 at Meeanee, still stands. The progression from altar wine to commercial production was gradual, driven less by entrepreneurial ambition than by the simple recognition that Hawke's Bay's warm, dry climate and fertile soil produced grapes that people wanted to buy.
Shaken but Standing
The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake devastated the entire region, and Mission Estate was not spared. The stone chapel at the mission was destroyed, killing nine people. The earthquake that levelled Napier and Hastings, raised the seabed, and drained entire lagoons also shook the winery to its foundations. But the vines survived, and production resumed. The resilience was characteristic of an enterprise that had already endured seven decades of New Zealand's unpredictable climate, economic fluctuations, and the challenges of making wine at the edge of the world. The rebuilt estate carried on, eventually growing into one of the largest wineries in Hawke's Bay.
Roots and Expansion
In 2017, Mission Estate took over Ngatarawa Wines, a founding winery of the Bridge Pa Triangle subregion, when its owners Alwyn and Brian Corban reached retirement age. The Corban family had their own deep roots in New Zealand winemaking, having established the Corbans winery that became one of the country's most recognized labels. The acquisition was a quiet milestone: one of New Zealand's oldest wine operations absorbing another, keeping both within New Zealand ownership at a time when foreign buyers were actively courting established vineyards. Mission Estate also holds vineyards in Marlborough, extending its reach beyond its Hawke's Bay heartland.
Summer Evenings on the Lawn
Mission Estate has become as well known for its outdoor concerts as for its wines. The winery's sloping lawns, with views across the Heretaunga Plains, provide a natural amphitheatre. In 2010, following the death of Michael Jackson, the estate hosted The Motown Event, a sold-out concert featuring The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, Joan Osborne, and Jimmy Barnes. The concert series has since become an annual fixture of the Hawke's Bay summer, drawing thousands to an estate where French missionaries once tended vines in silence. The contrast says something about how a place can evolve while holding on to its origins: the grapes still grow in the same soil the Marists first planted.
From the Air
Located at 39.52S, 176.84E in the Taradale suburb of Napier, on the Heretaunga Plains. The winery is set on a hillside with views across vineyards and orchards. Nearest airport: Hawke's Bay Airport (NZNH), approximately 8 km to the northwest. At 2,000-3,000 ft, the patchwork of vineyards and orchards across the plains is clearly visible. The region's wine country extends from the Mission Estate area south through the Bridge Pa Triangle toward Hastings.