Daring deed with a big John Deere

Sacred Hills' Dartmore vineyard was smashed in February's deluge, its location at the top of the valley making it something of a welcome mat for forestry debris carried on the flood, leaving silt to the top of the posts.

Meanwhile, the Poulter family's second Hawke's Bay vineyard - Riflemans - remained remarkably unscathed on its swiftly draining soils, but was left landlocked when the Dartmore and Rissington bridges fell to the flood.

Having plucked this pair of Sacred Hill vineyards from the hands of receivers in 2021, Steve wasn't about to let the demise of one distract him from the potential of the other. So he assessed the devastated bridges, the roaring Tutaekuri River, and the wheel depth of his huge 36--horsepower tractor, and planned an historic harvest.

Steve's son Ben - who manages the vineyards - travelled to Riflemans to assess the situation, while Steve called on neighbouring landowners for access, brought in a digger to cut tracks, and borrowed a picking bin from Wattie's.

With a harvester and 8,000 litres of diesel already on the vineyard awaiting vintage, all that remained was to fill the tractor tyres with water, add wheel weights, and drive through the metre-deep river and up through a forestry block to the vineyard. "It was sort of some crazy thinking in amongst it but it all came together," Steve says, recalling the tension of the first crossing, well aware of how wrong it could go. "We weren't going to give in, because we value that crop."

Within two days (and 20 crossings) they had harvested and tractor-towed 160 tonnes of fruit back down the hill, across the river and over a neighbouring farm, much to the delight of Chief Winemaker Nick Picone, who is eagerly awaiting a handpick from the same block late in March. "I know some have been hit so hard, but we thankfully have the ability to carry on and hopefully make some good wines," Nick says. "Let's face it, we won't forget this in a hurry."

Steve says assessing the damage in Hawke's Bay has been shocking, with some blocks "hard to look at". But he's very happy with the quality of the fruit they've rescued, thanks to vigilant viticulture work and the free draining soils of the site.

And he's proud of what the Sacred Hill team achieved, from his son driving the harvester to the guys on the gondola and the digger. He's also grateful to the landowners and the community that supported their endeavour. "No one wanted to let it go."

Steve is taking the loss of the Dartmore vineyard in his stride, saying they'll repair and recover the site when there's time. "You are dealing with the weather. You're not going to change it so you just have to live with it."

And despite it all, he's happy to have invested in the region's wine industry. "I think we're still learning, if I was honest, about how good our vineyards are," he says. "We are going to go ahead and keep moving. We only want to grow some more in Hawke's Bay."