General info

Heron’s Flight offers wine tastings at our family-owned vineyard and winery in Matakana. We’re around 10 minutes from Matakana Village and Warkworth, and approximately 45 minutes north of Auckland. Our Tasting Room is open daily from 11am–5pm.

No booking is required for casual visitors to our Tasting Room. Simply come by between 11am and 5pm and we’ll take you through the tasting options available. For groups of 10 or more, we recommend booking a hosted tasting in advance.

Our wines are presented in two tasting flights. Flight 1 is $15 and includes Dolcetto Rosato, Dolcetto and Volare Sangiovese. Flight 2 is $20 and includes Reserve Sangiovese and Amphora Sangiovese. The wines are also available by the glass or bottle.

Yes. Our Tasting Room has a small deli stocked with New Zealand cheeses, cured meats, preserves, crackers and other good things. Choose what you’d like and build your own platter at the table — we provide the boards, knives and everything else you need.

Absolutely. All of our current wines are available by the glass, so you’re welcome to visit for a glass or bottle of wine, build yourself a platter from the deli, or simply stop by to purchase wine to take home.

Heron’s Flight is in Matakana, approximately 45 minutes north of Auckland. We’re around 10 minutes by car from both Matakana Village and Warkworth.

Heron’s Flight specialises in Italian grape varieties grown at our Matakana vineyard. Sangiovese and Dolcetto are at the heart of what we do, from fresh Rosato and Dolcetto through to different expressions of Sangiovese, including Volare, Reserve Sangiovese and a wine made in a 500-litre amphora.

Heron’s Flight began by growing the French varieties that were popular in New Zealand at the time — and even won a Gold Medal for our first Cabernet Sauvignon. But they weren’t the wines David Hoskins and Mary Evans wanted to make. Having discovered Sangiovese and Dolcetto, they chose instead to focus on the Italian varieties that have defined Heron’s Flight for more than 35 years.

Sangiovese is one of Italy’s great red grape varieties and is best known as the principal grape of Chianti in Tuscany. Its character can vary depending on where and how it is grown and made. At Heron’s Flight, we use Sangiovese to produce several different styles, allowing us to explore the variety in different ways.

Dolcetto is a red Italian grape variety traditionally associated with Piedmont in north-west Italy. At Heron’s Flight, we grow Dolcetto in Matakana and use it to make both a red wine and our Rosato.

Amphora wine is made or matured using clay vessels rather than conventional stainless steel tanks or oak barrels. At Heron’s Flight, we use a 500-litre amphora to create a distinctive expression of our Matakana-grown Sangiovese.