Qualla: Mission Estate Winery

Mission Estate Winery: Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Panamitsu, CC BY-SA 4.0. 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.

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Image: Panamitsu | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mission Estate Winery: From Sacrament to Commerce

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Schwede66, CC BY-SA 3.0. 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, thou...

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Image: Schwede66 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mission Estate Winery: Shaken but Standing

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Schwede66, CC BY-SA 3.0. 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 wine...

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Image: Schwede66 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mission Estate Winery: Roots and Expansion

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Schwede66, CC BY-SA 3.0. 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 tha...

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Image: Schwede66 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mission Estate Winery: Summer Evenings on the Lawn

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Schwede66, CC BY-SA 3.0. 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 ...

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Image: Schwede66 | CC BY-SA 3.0