Whitehaven Block 11 Barrel Fermented Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022

December 6, 2023By Yvonne

Whitehaven Block 11 Barrel Fermented Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022 $32 How excellent that the team at Whitehaven have chosen to launch their new Single Vineyard series with the release of a shiny new barrel-fermented sauvignon blanc. Fruit from their Paul’s Road vineyard has been wild fermented and aged for 13 months in old French Oak … Read More

B & B Big and Buttery Barrel Fermented California Chardonnay 2021

June 19, 2023By Yvonne

B & B Big and Buttery Barrel Fermented California Chardonnay 2021 $20-$22 Totally living up to its name, this is a California classic that’ll definitely appeal to lovers of an old-school, oaky, butterscotchy style. Showing a smoky element from the French oak barrels used combined with a vein of vanilla from a proportion of American … Read More

Matawhero Barrel Fermented Gisborne Chardonnay 2021

June 12, 2023By Yvonne

Matawhero Barrel Fermented Gisborne Chardonnay 2021 $31 Paired with Annabel Langbein’s Roasted cauliflower and blue cheese soup in the NZ Herald CANVAS magazine Sat June 17th 2023 What to do when two of your favourite things present themselves in one dish? Add one more right! One of the great wonders of the modern age is … Read More

Giesen The Augūst Barrel Fermented Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2021

March 26, 2023By Yvonne

Giesen The Augūst Barrel Fermented Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2021 $40 Pronounced ‘Aww-goost’, this wine is a reverential nod to German restauranteur, hotelier, sommelier, and all-round, early 20th-century hospo legend August Giesen, ‘Opa’ to brothers Alex, Marcel, and Theo. It’s the company’s flagship sauvignon blanc, yet it’s so far away from traditional styles, it needs its … Read More

Greywacke Marlborough Wild Sauvignon 2019

August 15, 2022By Yvonne

Greywacke Marlborough Wild Sauvignon 2019 $36 Paired with Annabel Langbein’s Smoked Salmon & Egg Gratin in NZ Herald Canvas Sat Aug 20 2022. Crafted from fruit grown in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys in the Renwick, Rapaura and Woodbourne regions, this intensely delicious-yet-delicately stylish sauvignon is laced with marzipan, sugar snap peas, homemade lemonade and loads of … Read More

Black Barn Barrel Fermented Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019

May 17, 2020By Yvonne

Black Barn Barrel Fermented Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019 $39 If you were wondering what the 2019 vintage was like for the great players in Hawke’s Bay chardonnay – then let it be known that it was, if this wine is any indicator, rather great.  This is a wine that I look forward to each year … Read More

Matawhero Church House Barrel Fermented Gisborne Chardonnay 2018

March 13, 2020By Yvonne

Matawhero Church House Barrel Fermented Gisborne Chardonnay 2018 $29.99 It’s a rare thing to see chardonnay that’s been farmed without irrigation in this country, but the Matawhero team reckon it’s the best way to achieve purity of flavour and really stamp the signature of the soils on a wine.  It means the vines need to … Read More

Black Estate Home North Canterbury Chardonnay 2018

July 18, 2019By Yvonne

Black Estate Home North Canterbury Chardonnay 2018 $42 The Home Vineyard sits 6 kilometres north east of the Waipara Junction, in the Omihi sub-district of North Canterbury’s Waipara Valley. The un-grafted, Mendoza-clone chardonnay vines this wine was made from were planted in 1994 and since 2010 have been grown using organic and biodynamic practices, resulting … Read More

Nautilus The Paper Nautilus Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016

November 24, 2018By Yvonne

Nautilus The Paper Nautilus Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016 $35 I’m a huge fan of this style of sauvignon blanc. I love that a ‘paper nautilus’ is only released when the fruit is exceptional (and 2016 was a rip roarer of a vintage) and I love that it’s been fermented in just one, single, old French … Read More

Clark Estate Clericus Wild Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016

August 31, 2018By Yvonne

Clark Estate Clericus Wild Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016 $35 Classic barrel fermented, wild-fermented style here, stacked with smoked passionfruit, bruised basil, toasty marzipan notes, soft pepper and lemongrass layers. Named for the most noble and intellectuals in Roman society, this is definitely the thinking persons’ sauvignon. www.clarkestate.com