With a rich family heritage, award-winning wines, and a commitment to quality and sustainability, Askerne Estate Winery is the place to go for a memorable wine experiences in Hawke’s Bay.
Conveniently located for driving (if you are doing a wine trail by car, we do recommend having a designated sober driver), and with access to the Tukituki cycle trail, Askerne Estate Winery is the perfect stop on a visit to the Hawke's Bay region.
Learn more about our wines with a wine tasting at our cellar door, or satisfy your hunger with a boutique gourmet picnic, enjoyed in our peaceful vineyard setting.
We look forward to welcoming you soon.
For General Enquiries
Please fill out the form below and we will contact you within 1-3 working days. For anything more urgent please ring the cellar door 06 929 0999. If you’re looking for your nearest Askerne Wines stockist, just let us know in your message and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Askerne Estate Winery is a family affair built over many years and several generations
Askerne Estate Winery came to life in April 1993 when wine lovers John and Kathryn Loughlin purchased the original 11.6 hectare site in Te Mata Mangateretere Road.
John and Kathryn had studied winemaking and viticulture in the previous years with Kathryn, as the more diligent student, achieving the higher grades. They called the property Askerne, being the olde English name of Kathryn’s birthplace, Askern in Yorkshire, England.
John took up a role of Finance Manager of the large Richmond Limited meat company to provide the finance for the developing wine venture and Kathryn assumed management of the vineyard operations.
The first wines were made at the Waimarama Estate Winery (then owned by Dr John Loughlin, John’s father) in 1996. These wines were released under our initial white label with green trees. Planting continued year after year as funding allowed and the product range broadened.
In February 1997, the Askerne cellar door was opened to the public. It also sold Waimarama Estate’s red wines, including the then famous Waimarama Dessert Cabernet. The 1997 vintage produced very fine wines from Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay which confirmed the potential of the site.
Askerne commenced exporting with wines from the 1997 vintage and then in 1998, Dr John Loughlin sold Waimarama Estate Winery. From the 1999 vintage onwards, Askerne’s wines were made on site. The cellar door building was expanded to accommodate winemaking activities.
In early 2000 we changed to our current black label with gold embossed trees. The last of our 1999 vintage wines were released with this label.
In 2000 an adjoining apple orchard of over 8 hectares was acquired taking the Askerne site to over 20 hectares. The new and remaining areas were progressively planted in vines over the next six years.
The 2001 and 2002 vintages were severely affected by frost which prompted significant investment in windmills and other frost protection equipment. In 2004 a new purpose-built winery was completed, only hours before it was used for vintage.
John’s father had begun the building a cottage on the property as his personal residence, in 2003 but sadly he died without ever living in it and in 2006 it was converted into a vineyard homestay. While offering a comfortable stay this venture never achieved the success that was hoped for. It later left us wondering what would have happened if the later Airbnb phenomenon had happened a few years earlier!
From 2006 to 2012 John and Kathryn (assisted at times by staff) presented Askerne’s wines at the Hawke’s Bay Farmers Market. Summer sales were good but standing around on freezing mornings in winter, with few prospective customers, did not justify the modest sales at that time of the year. During the same period, Askerne held family concerts in a gently sloping area of the vineyard. The Beat Girls were regular performers and The Waratahs, The Brown Brothers and several tribute artists also performed.
Large vintages in 2008, 2009 and 2010 coincided with the Global Financial Crisis and a downturn in business as customers changed and downsized and the market moved to cheaper price points. Export channels also dried up. We launched our first white and gold label Rouge and Blanc blends as lower-tier responses and sold them directly to consumers. This had never been part of the plans nor had discounts to clear inventory. But needs must at difficult times. Most of the fruit from the 2011 and 2012 vintages were sold as we sought to rebalance inventories with demand.
In 2017, a hot dry summer was followed by two tropical cyclones and a storm over a fortnight. These rain events washed out almost all of the second half of the vintage, leaving only a couple of dessert wine options which, whilst always looking good in the winery, succeeded way beyond initial hopes. New vines were ordered for the first phase of the vineyard re-development.
The 2018 vintage saw the first of the Icon series of wines in “The Archer” Chardonnay. The name “The Archer” reflects Kathryn’s maiden name and the central bowman figure on the Loughlin family crest. The 2018 The Archer was released at the 2019 Hawke’s Bay Charity Wine Auction.
2018 also saw the 25th anniversary of the Askerne venture - a time to think about the past and present. During this year, we introduced our popular gourmet picnics as a way of broadening our customer engagement at the cellar door.
Late in 2019 Laura, the youngest Loughlin daughter, joined the business full-time as maternity leave cover to replace her sister Rebecca.
The 2020 vintage was spectacular in terms of climate and quality. It was also unusual in terms of vintage operations which coincided with the Covid-19 global pandemic. Askerne was able to operate as an essential business, but faced new challenges in terms of distancing, managing “bubbles” and sanitisation. It was nothing like anything faced in the 24 previous vintages.
After the Covid-19 lockdown, and in the face of significant uncertainties, we made the decision to push ahead with extensions to our cellar door. The original cellar door had been a room in the corner of a shed and was largely unchanged over 23 years. The expansion essentially doubled the interior floor area and added verandas on the Northern and Western frontages. This provided superior amenity to customers, an ability to grow the gourmet picnic offer and an ability to work within the various restrictions associated with Covid-19 operating protocols.
In January 2021 Cairn Coghill joined the Askerne team as winemaker. Cairn has previously worked in the Villa Maria group, Alpha Domus, Hatton Estate and most recently Sileni Estate. Cairn has also worked four vintages in Bordeaux and Oregon. Cairn brings leadership, passion and energy to our winery team.
The 2021 vintage saw great weather for the fourth consecutive vintage. We made our first Fleurty Rosé which hit the spot in terms of public appeal whenever it is tasted, and also our first Barbera and our first CSM blend from Carménère Syrah and Mourvèdre. This was planned to be an innovative signature red wine style for Askerne.
In 2022 we purchased an “L” shaped 12-hectare property to the South and East of the original Askerne property taking our total site area to 32 hectares. 2022 was a very wet year and required significant additional investment in viticulture, particularly spray protection covers, canopy management and weed control. We held our nerve and kept investing in the crop which was well rewarded.
In early 2023 Hawke’s Bay was hammered by Cyclone Gabrielle on 14th February. We experienced 237mm of rain on our vineyard, and fortunately, the stopbank at the rear of the Askerne property held. The water rose around 6 metres across the wide bed of the Tuki Tuki River behind us but did not overtop the stopbank in our area. We were without power, water, cellphone or internet coverage for four days. On rejoining the connected world, we discovered how lucky we had been versus others in the region who were devastated. The rainwater drained away within 24 hours on the stony, sandy rear area which is most of the Askerne vineyard. It took longer up on the top areas of the vineyard near the cellar door and Te Mata Mangateretere Road. February peak trading at our cellar door was heavily disrupted as Hawke’s Bay was not accessible by roads from the north for several weeks.
The Cyclone was followed by six weeks of good Autumn weather. The impact of the cyclone was quite mixed across our varieties. Our later varieties, those on the lightest soils and with thick skins and loose bunches did best. We did not make a Pinot Noir, a Barbera or a Gewürztraminer in 2023 but we did make a Dr John blend that we were really proud of.
Late in 2023 we opened a cycle track to our cellar door up from the cycleway along the Tuki Tuki River stopbank, creating a new way for visitors to reach Askerne. We planted a few Malbec vines extending rows onto the land that had been acquired a year earlier.
The 2024 vintage turned out to be an excellent one with a dry Spring followed by a warm Summer and Autumn. While quality was outstanding, the harsh experiences of the Cyclone year were reflected in very low volumes. We made our first export sales to Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
The 2025 vintage was another excellent one. We made a big decision to take back national distribution and to distribute our wines directly to retailers, restaurants and bars. We expanded our sales team to undertake this huge challenge.
We look forward to many more successful vintages and welcoming people from nearby and far afield to our winery.