Silt covered 6 hectares of grape vines. Photo: Supplied / Linden Estate Winery
A winery in the Hawke's Bay is preparing for a good quality harvest a year after Cyclone Gabrielle.
Floodwater ran through Linden Estate in the Esk Valley and silt covered 6 hectares of grape vines and tore through the cellar door, in the early hours of 14 February 2023.
Damage to Linden Estate in the Esk Valley after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Linden Estate Winery
Business manager Olivia Walding-Karaitiana said the damage was horrific, but things looked a lot different now.
"We've come a really long way since last year and we're very proud of our team and really excited for the year ahead.
"We were able to dig up the 6 hectares by hand and save those vines. I'm looking out at them now, what a year ago would have been a pile of silt is now a luscious green syrah."
Linden Estate faced flood damage after Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. Photo: Supplied / Linden Estate Winery
It was a really hard job, but it had paid off, she said.
"We were able to reopen the cellar door on Labour Weekend and since then we've had a good flow of locals and tourists coming to visit."
The bottles of 'survivor wine' that made it out of a damaged cellar. Photo: Supplied / Linden Estate Winery
Linden Estate rebranded 27,000 bottles of wine that were damaged in the cellar as 'survivor wine' - the last bottle of which sold this week.
"We could have easily gone down a different road 12 months ago and we like to say we were devastated but not defeated - we're really proud to be open again," Walding-Karaitiana said.
Linden Estate a year on since the vineyards were damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Linden Estate Winery