Our story… so far.
In the chronicles of New Zealand history, 1987 is up there. There was a large earthquake in Edgecumbe, we won the first Rugby World Cup, had the odd General Election, saw Māori made (not before time) an official language and watched the sharemarket crash. Peeking out from under the covers was something even more significant; Heron’s Flight planted its first vines.
Almost four decades of history
Heron’s Flight was established by David Hoskins and Mary Evans. It was something of a happy accident.
They had just gotten together and enjoyed wandering the countryside and vineyards of West Auckland. Somewhere along the way, they noticed that the best conversations and the most pleasurable times often happened over a bottle of wine. And they wanted to capture a little of that.
So Heron’s Flight was born. No grand plan, no desire for world domination, just the desire to take the existential essence of the grape and turn it into pleasure.
Doing things a bit differently
In keeping with the winemaking wisdom of the time, they planted French varieties – the classic Bordeaux grapes – and promptly won a Gold Medal with their first Cabernet Sauvignon.
But, in keeping with the Hoskins and Evans wisdom of the time, they decided to promptly tear them out.
This was not the wine they wanted to make.
No, the wines they wanted to make came from a more recent discovery: the Italian grapes Sangiovese and Dolcetto.
And that is what they’ve made for the past 35 years. Wines that capture the essence, romance, simplicity and pleasure of Italian life, and the Italian table.
Made, of course, in Matakana, New Zealand.
How we found our name
When you plant grape vines, you put the posts in first. Which is exactly what David and Mary did.
At the end of the nascent vineyard runs a stream. One day, they came out to find a legginess of herons perched on the newly installed posts, having made their way up from the water.
Names don’t come easier than that.
And the herons remain here to this day.
