elephant hill estate winery

The Elephant Hill Winery on the coast road in southern Hawkes Bay is a stunning contemporary building with an infinity pool under the terrace dining area looking out to the sea and the Cape Kidnappers headland, with a foreground of their vines, which they were starting to pick on 10 March. The wines may be excellent according to your taste but the restaurant is up in the top ten. While most tables on the terrace have umbrellas for shade, they thoughtfully supply hats and suncream in case needed. Welcoming polished service with a smile led to an excellent menu and superb food. There was a breeze and this nearly blew away the delicate Parmesan gratings over my Romaine lettuce, four leaves standing up to protect a heart of folded proscuitto with a soft warm quail's egg in the centre, and wonderful whipped Pecorino dressing, with kalamata and white anchovies to provide a contrasting punch. Great. My main course of smoked venison came cooked perfectly rare, with a light aromatic juniper crust, some cauliflower and separately parsnip puree - providing contrasts in texture and flavour - and some truffle "snow", shittake mushrooms, and young baked beetroot. The meat here was melting, and the accompaniments all worked in harmony. Excellent.Affogato to conclude. Their selection of accompanying wines was very good, both the Le Phant Blanc and their Pinot Noir matching the food ideally. Highly recommended.

Beautifully presented food that tasted just divine; definitely not what I would cook myself.Courteous, good service. We shared 3 entrees:# Smoked ricotta, duck tortellini, broad beans, mint, with confit onion dressing. # Chilled prawns, cauliflower parfait, pickles, & smoked tomato creme. # Citrus cured salmon with grilled fennel, sumac labneh, cucumber & orange pearls. Desserts, also shared . . .# Strawberries with goats cheese sorbet, vanilla sponge, pink peppercorn syrup, frosted mint.# Coconut sago arancini with lychee & lime curd.Certainly not cheap but well worth every dollar.

We came for the wine tasting and the restaurant and were not disappointed. Staying in the Hawks Bay area to experience the wines, we decided to check out the wines at Elephant Hill and to stay for dinner. The wine tasting was great in the late afternoon sun and the staff were very helpful.After the wine tasting we stayed on for dinner which was nice and had plenty of flavors and some lovely matching wines. The environment was lovely and the night was clear so the stars we out in force. It was a lovely place to spend time catching up with family and shooting the breeze.

We had a lovely lunch at Elephant Hill winery.. Elegant and beautifully presented food with well matched wine. I had the ricotta with duck tortellini for entree, and melt-in-the-mouth beef for main. Others had the cauliflower parfait with chilled prawns to start.. And for mains, the smoked venison and the whitefish with a courgette flower stuffed with prawn mousse. All were very good. But it was the desserts that really blew us away. I had a white chocolate creation with orange creme fraiche and dehydrated raspberry powder.. Lovely to look at and delicious. We also tried the panna cotta (yum) and roasted strawberries with goat yogurt ice cream which was off-the-charts good. The gorgeous setting, overlooking vines to the sea, didn't hurt either. A must-do experience in Hawke's Bay.

My husband and I were doing the cycle trail from Napier to Cape Kidnappers and return last week. We decided to pass up the numerous lunch choices on the way and enjoy a lovely lunch over a glass of wine at Elephant Hill that we had passed on the way. As the wineries are promoted as significant stops to enjoy along the cycle trail we assumed this was a good idea. Unfortunately the welcome and experience we received there was very disappointing. On arrival we had a quick glance at the menus and decided to have an offering from the Tastings Plate ie the Winemaker's platter to share. The matre d showed us to a table for 2 on the deck in proximity to the lounge area also on the deck. We were given menus and when the waitress enquired what we would like we explained that we were having a Platter and not ordering from the al la carte menu. This appeared to come as a surprise. Initially I thought the wait staff were not happy to welcome cyclists but a small group of ladies arrived after us and they were dressed much more casually with (very short) shorts and thongs. We felt very uncomfortable so I enquired with the waitress if we were sitting in the incorrect area as in "should we be sitting in the lounge area" wherein her reply was " yes usually but you're here now so no point in moving!" Well it was made quite clear that it's much more acceptable at EH to order a la carte. We finished our Winemaker's platter (shame the cheese was served straight from the fridge and not at room temperature as it should be) and wine and so at $70 not a cheap lunch we could not wait to make our exit. N.B. To Elephant Hill management take a trip to Cradle Bay vineyard and Man o War on Whaiheke Island see how fine dining and casual dining co-exist very happily and everyone is made to feel welcome whatever their dining choice. N.B. to Hawke's Bay tourism if you are intending to promote your cycle trails and wish to encourage cyclists to visit the local wineries make sure said Wineries and staff are happy to welcome them!

I brought my wife here for her birthday, it was our first day in Hawke's Bay and we were not disappointed. The winery itself is a striking modern glass building, which creates the sensation of almost sitting in the vineyard for dinner. The service was a little confused at first - after a few minutes we realised that we both had different menus - but it was fine after that. The food was stunning, each dish was a work of art, all seasonal - the smoked salmon and the venison were particularly memorable. We did a few wineries during the week and Elephant Hill probably had the most consistently good wines by the glass. Very good restaurant.

We had a very good experience and a view that looked like paradise. Food was very good and with surprising combinations and the wines compared very good with the courses. An absolute must do!

We were recommended to visit this winery by local people. This is nothing like the 'caves' in France or the 'weinguts' in Germany. The ultra modern tasting room leads onto a full service, high end restaurant with stunning views over the vineyards and the sea beyond. Like some of the grand cru vineyards in Burgundy there is a charge, in this case $5 for up to 6 wines, however this is refundable against a purchase of wine which starts at $22 a bottle.

Worth the visit for the spectacular site alone, wine tasting was also excellent - and cost $5, refundable on purchase

Wonderful place. The setting was gorgeous. We toured the winery. Clean and beautiful. Unique steel tanks. Great barrel space. The wines were phenomenal. We had a 15 bottle case shipped home. I only wish they had been open for dinner that night. The menu looked incredible. The view from the dining room was stunning. The 1-2 hour stay is without dinner.

What a fabulous place to dine for a special occasion! Restaurant is very elegant, with excellent table service. The food is delicious and creatively served and beautifully presented and the wine is sublime!

Elephant Hill vineyard has an impressive building, wonderful setting and lovely wines.tastings are $7:50 for 6 wines but that is refunded if you buy a bottle.The customer picks the 6 wines from the list and we were guided through the tasting by a very knowledgeable young lady, left to taste and talk together , then she was back with the next selected wine. We enjoyed the wines, did change our initial choice, but were given an extra tasting when we decided to buy 6 different bottles. Good thing is it only costs $6;50 to courier the bottles home, this cost was advertised on the tasting sheet. Lovely looking restaurant and amazing outlook towards Cape Kidnapppers.

The Estate has obviously benefitted from a substantial investment and the money has been wisely spent, providing an interesting and comfortable dining experience as well as the opportunity to sample the vineyards produce. The service and food was good and the interesting water feature and architecture adds to the overall experience.

Excellent evening meal!! Everything (beef, lamb, duck, desserts) was all incredible. We recently had a meal with our 4 young children there. I do not recommend this place for young children unless they are well behaved and truly enjoy a delicious gourmet meal. If so, then the children will do well and are accepted with pleasure.

If you are wanting somewhere top end for an evening meal, you have to go to Elephant Hill. The sunken in seating area for a pre dinner drink was a nice change and when we'd made up our mind the food arrived looking like art on a plate. Their home made butter and complimentary rolls were a nice touch, and the wine was some of the best Gewurtz I have ever tasted. The experience won't come cheap - but you will be delighted!