Back then, it had a few vines on it and was named Vidal Block #2.
Today, on this very sunny corner of the Hawke’s Bay, stands a unique
vineyard with old vines, a restaurant that feeds more than 80 happy
diners each day and there is a beach.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Clearview Estate, the 20th
anniversary of Tim Turvey selling a house and, for a similar sum,
buying a block of land. Tim is a well-known workaholic in those parts.
Tim and wife Helma van den Berg planted every vine, rammed every post,
wired the whole vineyard, designed and built the restaurant, built
every table in the courtyard, laid every paving stone and planted every
tree.

To boot, Tim still makes the wine albeit with the very able
assistance of Barry Riwai. Tim’s wine-making skills are entirely
self-taught. No degree from a wine-making university. No diploma from a
local polytech. Just many hours of reading and talking with wine
makers, and trial and error.

Helma is the perfect partner for Tim. She paid attention to detail
(and still does), while Tim was (and still is) the loose cannon, the
ideas man and the raconteur. Helma is no longer his wife but remains
his hands-on business partner.

His was one of the first vineyard restaurants outside a main centre
in New Zealand. The day it opened for the first time in 1992, 40 people
turned up for lunch. It was chaos – delightful chaos. The lone chef
“went off her nut”, but the punters understood, were charmed by the
views, the food, the wine and the hospitality, and went away happy.
Today there are six chefs and they feed 80 plus guests per day. The
punters are charmed by the views, the food, the wine and the
hospitality, and they go away happy.

Over the years, some local adjustments have occurred.

Big money came to the bay. Big money purchased Gimlet Road. Big money brought with it big advertising to promote big wine.

Some fantastic architectural structures went up and called
themselves winery restaurants. Investors planted vines everywhere, even
in some mighty imprudent places. Verily the frosts came and wiped out
the imprudent plantings.

Meanwhile back at Clearview, with gentle sea breezes blowing about
his ears, Tim played with chardonnay. Te Awanga gets no frosts. Tim
played with soil types; he played with clones of grape plants. He
played with wild yeast ferments and he played with pure strain yeast
inoculated ferments. He played with fermentation temperatures and he
played with coopers and their many barrels. He put some of the
chardonnays through a malolactic ferment and some he did not. The
results are outstanding.

Accolades reward supreme efforts

A handful of restaurants throughout New Zealand (and Brazil) who
want a chardonnay that is complex, aromatic, meaty, mealy, funky, very
3-dimensional and unbelievably interesting put Clearview chardonnays on
their lists. Their diners reward them with compliments.

Tim also grows nine varieties of grapes. Among them sauvignon blanc
with a Loire-ish, smooth and creamy texture without the screeching
acidity of some of Marlborough’s savvy’s. He grows reds too and picks
all the grapes at high brix and high extract, guaranteeing wines that
have weight and texture and length.

What keeps Tim going? He works late and is on the vineyard working again by 9am. “Everything is fascinating,” he says.

“There is always something new to try. Every day brings its challenges and every vintage I learn something new.”

In 20 years he has had some great moments. “Winning the first trophy
for top white wine at the Royal Easter show in 1993 and opening the
restaurant for the first time are etched in my memory,” Tim says.

“Another highlight was my daughter Katie Turvey gaining her wine making degree from Lincoln in 2005.”

Tim smiles when he recalls the day James Halliday, the noted
Australian wine writer called. Tim poured him a vertical tasting of 10
vintages of Clearview chardonnay. The great man is never speechless.
This occasion was no exception. He effused for a considerable time
about the quality and the flavour of these very special wines.

The ultimate compliment to Tim and Helma’s foresight is being paid
just now. In the beginning there was just one vineyard of four acres
all alone on the beach. It was called Clearview. Now Clearview is 40
acres, but it is surrounded. Surrounded by a dozen new vineyards, each
owned by a major winery in the Hawke’s Bay.

Many of them, such as Craggy Range, have home vineyards on the
“gravels”, but they have planted (mostly) chardonnay in this magic site
by the sea at Te Awanga.

If it is nearly lunch time and you are driving on state highway two
near Clive, the following accolades for Clearview Estate head chef John
Cornforth’s luncheon menu may help you decide where to stop:

• NZ Beef & Lamb Award 1998 and every year from 2001 to 2007
• Casio Best Café/Restaurant Award 1997 and 2000
• Top Hawke’s Bay lunch restaurant – Michael Guy’s annual eating out awards 2003
• Top six winery restaurants in New Zealand – Dominion Post 2005
• 13 outstanding cellar doors in Australasia – Gourmet Traveller Wine 2005
• Best Hawke’s Bay regional restaurant – Café Magazine’s annual best café awards 2006.

If this does not make up your mind then you should know that the
Cellar Door Personality of the Year Award 2002 was awarded to Tim
Turvey at the Hawke’s Bay A&P wine show. If you need a lesson on
how to enjoy life, drop into Clearview.

From - http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz