Where there is a will there is a way and the Poulter family is definitely proof of that.

After losing tonnes of grapes to Cyclone Gabrielle, they had to come up with some creative ideas to harvest the rest of their crop from their Riflemans Vineyard that became landlocked after the Mangaone Stream Bridge was washed away.

The family had owned Sacred Hill Family Vineyards Limited for a little over a year when Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed one of their three Hawke’s Bay vineyards.

More than 200 tonnes of grapes were lost from Sacred Hill’s Dartmoor vineyard after the cyclone brought raging flood waters and left 2-metre-high silt covering the 20-hectare vineyard that produces grapes for one of the winery’s most popular wines.

Located at the bottom of Dartmoor Rd, the vineyard that grew Sacred Hill’s sauvignon grapes was in one of the areas more heavily affected by the cyclone and was destroyed by silt and slash.

Cyclone Gabrielle completely destroyed one of Sacred Hill’s vineyards and left another landlocked. Photo / Ian Cooper

Sacred Hill Vineyard manager Ben Poulter explained that while the Dartmoor vineyard infrastructure will have to be dug out and replanted, Sacred Hill’s other vineyards were in good condition despite the weather due to the free-draining soils we have in Hawke’s Bay.

After losing all of the grapes on the Dartmoor Vineyard, it became even more important to find a way to harvest the grapes from the landlocked Riflemans Vineyard as that vineyard produces premier Sacred Hill chardonnay, Ben says.

His sister and Sacred Hill CEO Alexis Poulter says, “Riflemans Vineyard was isolated but the crop was looking good and we knew one thing, we were going to harvest this vineyard, we just had to work out how, we did know one thing though, that it was going to be through the Tutaekuri River.”

Alexis explained her father, and Sacred Hill owner Steve Poulter, “who is the hardest working person I know”, said, “We’ll just have to get stuck in and work out how to do it.”

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Sacred Hill Vineyard manager Ben Poulter said it was important to harvest the Riflemans grapes after losing 200 tons of the crop to Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Ian Cooper

“Many would have laughed when someone tells you they are going to harvest their landlocked grapes, but there was never a doubt in my mind that Dad would make this happen,” she added.

Other than having to find a way to cross the river, the Poulter family also struggled with clearing slips and a lack of access to get machinery to the vineyard.

Neighbouring properties to the Riflemans Vineyard gave the team a track to get down on and another track to get up on. The Poulters then found the biggest tractor and the biggest gondola they could find and put some tracks on it.

“We used a tractor to clear the slips on the farm track so they could cart the grapes down to the Tutaekuri River,” Ben says.

Sacred Hill’s landlocked Riflemans Vineyard has finally been harvested and popular chardonnay vintage grapes have made it to the winery. Photo / Ian Cooper

Once at the river, the team used a 360-horse-powered tractor to pull a tracked gondola full of freshly harvested grapes through the river and out on the other side where they were then taken to the winery.

“When we crossed the river with that first grape load I had tears in my eyes, I was so proud of everyone,” Alexis said.

Now that Sacred Hill has harvested the grapes from Riflemans, vineyard manager Ben is confident the wines made will not be affected by the cyclone.

“They were just produced with a bit more of a challenge than usual,” he said.

The harvest has been delivered to the Sacred Hill Winery and has been handed over to winemaker Nick Picone.

“It is now up to him to make it into very nice wine. The 2023 Sacred Hill Chardonnay Vintage was certainly one for the books,” Alexis says.