Te Mata Estate Winery, one of Hawke's Bay's best-known producers, sits at 349 Te Mata Road in the Parkvale area of Havelock North, in the Hastings district, with more information on visits and tastings via its website. A winery visit is as much about the conversation as the glass. At a good cellar door you will taste a short, considered line-up rather than everything made, and whoever is pouring can usually tell you which bottles are drinking well now and which deserve a few years in the rack, because vintages vary more than most newcomers expect. Hawke's Bay's warm climate and free-draining gravels favour Bordeaux-style reds, Syrah and Chardonnay, so a first-time visitor would do well to taste generously in that direction. Summer weekends get busy, and larger groups are wise to book ahead. Few cellar doors in the country come with a setting like this quiet corner of Havelock North, with Te Mata Peak rising close by.