Radburnd Cellars

Ultra-Premium Boutique Wine from Hawke’s Bay

Located on Ngatarawa Road, in the Bridge Pa Triangle Wine District, Radburnd Cellars is the brainchild of veteran winemaker Kate Radburnd, who in 2017 founded this boutique winery with a single guiding purpose: to produce her very best wines in each vintage, without compromise. Radburnd Cellars is not about volume – it’s about expression, quality, and finesse. Kate works closely with selected growers across vineyards in Hawke’s Bay to source pristine fruit for her limited-release wines. The focus is on small parcels, careful handling (including hand-harvesting), attention to terroir, and ageing in French oak to bring out elegance rather than heaviness. Her philosophy is reflected in the statement from their website: “We make ultra-premium wine in very limited volumes – representing the best, rather than the most.” The wines are crafted from premium varietals: Chardonnay, Syrah, and a Merlot-Cabernet blend. There are just three wines in the core range, each vintage, ensuring that every bottle represents her highest standards.

Challenges & Resilience

Radburnd Cellars has faced its share of difficulties. One significant recent challenge was Cyclone Gabrielle, which inflicted serious damage on Radburnd’s Bay View facility, affecting infrastructure, equipment, and some stock. Despite that, much of the wine stock and packaging stored off-site was preserved, allowing Radburnd to continue fulfilling orders and maintaining connection with customers. In response to the devastation of the cyclone, Radburnd had to look for a new home and found it in the old Ngatarawa Stables. The former home of Alwyn Corban’s Ngatarawa Wines – a pioneer of viticulture in the Bridge Pa Triangle – Radburnd Cellars have fitted in very well alongside Bostock Wines.

Wine Style & Signature Wines

Radburnd wines are known for being refined, balanced, and age-worthy. They lean toward subtlety and purity rather than power and oak dominance. For example:

• The Syrah is praised for “fruit purity, dark and dense fruit, spice and pretty florals,” with fine tannins and restraint.
• The Merlot-Cabernet blend shows power combined with elegance, delivering dark cherries, herbs, well-integrated oak, yet refined structure.
• The Chardonnay delivers freshness, vibrant acidity, and poised texture, often showing complexity and good ageing potential.

Because Radburnd is small-scale (production around 2,500 cases annually) the wines are handmade, closely curated, and generally sold direct to consumers or via select partners.

Cellar Door & Visiting Experience

Due to the small staff numbers, the Radburnd Cellar Door operates mainly weekdays in winter and only on weekends in summer. If you want to taste, learn about the winemaking process, and sample the current releases, reaching out in advance is essential. This approach helps maintain the boutique, personal feel of interactions. Because the wine is produced in small batches, the sense is that every tasting is more intimate — you are interacting directly with the story, the place, and often the people behind the wine.