I’m super-proud to be the co-founder and CTO (Chief Tasting Officer) of WineFriend, the greatest personalised wine delivery service in all the land. Founded in 2015, we match wine to people. We help our subscribers navigate the crazy-vast number of wines out there in the marketplace by pairing them with wines that only suit their individual tastes. Wines that are delicious, unique and definitely not seen in your average supermarket. Read more about WineFriend

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Three Fates in Bay Buzz Magazine 2025

1 April 2025

Three Fates wine by Yvonne LorkinApril 1, 2025 From left: Holly Girven-Russell, Casey Motley, Hester Nesbitt. Photo: Florence Charvin When it comes to wine stories fitting the cultural zeitgeist, it doesn’t get more current than three, young Hawke’s Bay women stalking each other on social media before opting to leap into business together with the … Read More

Brookfields Back Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2023

1 April 2025

Brookfields Back Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2023 $22 Peter Robertson is an ex flatmate of the Wizard of Christchurch. He also began making wine in Hawke’s Bay in the early 1970s and purchased Brookfields Vineyards in 1977, forty years after it was founded in 1937. He was one of the first to leap onto the … Read More

Jenny Dobson Florence Hawke’s Bay Fiano 2023

12 March 2025

Jenny Dobson Florence Hawke’s Bay Fiano 2023 $45 Having been involved with crafting Fiano from fruit grown in tiny amounts in the Bridge Pa subregion since 2010, Jenny Dobson is easily New Zealand’s foremost expert on Fiano production. Fiano is an ancient, white grape with its spiritual home in Campania in Southern Italy. Still, it … Read More

Huntress Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2023

11 March 2025

Huntress Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2023 $48 This is the first time Jannine Rickards has released a syrah from Hawke’s Bay, and she sourced her fruit from the Herringbone Vineyard in Bridge Pa. Taking a third of the grapes and fermenting them as whole clusters (rather than the traditionally crushed berries) has created a wine with … Read More

Saorsa Hawke’s Bay Rosê 2023

11 March 2025

Saorsa Hawke’s Bay Rosê 2024 $32 Built on a backbone of Bridge Pa-grown syrah, this is a bright, peppery rosé, dry and rich and spicy. In a dimpled punt, it’s a fleshy, feisty style with good richness. And excellent length of flavour. Complex and rich.

Cardrona Distillery The Falcon Single Malt Whisky

3 March 2025

Cardrona Distillery The Falcon Single Malt Whisky 700ml $353 This is the flagship single malt from the clever kids at Cardrona and it’s a blend of portions taken from an ex-Olorosso butt, and ex-Bourbon barrel and an ex-Central Otago Pinot Noir barrel. Grilled nectarine, creamed manuka honey, buttery, boozy, raisin and sultana-soaked Christmas cake batter … Read More

Cardrona Distillery American Barrel Single Cask

3 March 2025

Cardrona Distillery American Barrel Single Cask 700ml 52% $353 Ex-Bourbon American seasoned barrels are the most commonly used vessels used in Whisky maturation, and the 200l cask that this example comes from has injected something exotically seductive, something almost emotional and something almost, dare I say it, spiritual. It’s intensely scented with smoked butterscotch, vanilla, … Read More

Cardrona Distillery Single Sherry Cask

3 March 2025

Cardrona Distillery Single Sherry Cask 700ml 52%abv $353 Crafted using a 500l oak, ex-Olorosso Sherry butt from Southern Spain that’s been lightly charred, and it adds incredible intensity and nutty, fruity richness to this single-cask whisky. Lifted and lusciously scented with caramelised sultanas and raisins, brown butter, hazelnut and smoked nougat, on the palate it … Read More

Cardrona Distillery Single Malt Central Otago Pinot Cask

3 March 2025

Cardrona Distillery Single Malt Central Otago Pinot Cask 700ml 52%abv $353 Just 362 bottles of this exclusive whisky were hand bottled in its second batch on December 2 2024. Drawn from French oak pinot noir barrels, this insanely deliciously, exotically-structured whisky roars with honey-buttered, scorched stonefruit, sultana-soaked Christmas cake batter, smoked fig and toasted pecan … Read More

Oraterra Martinborough Pinot Noir 2023

3 March 2025

Oraterra Martinborough Pinot Noir 2023 $80 Wilco Lam’s first Pinot Noir for Martinborough’s new Oraterra brand is a lightly, yet elegantly structured example that’s had 18-24 days on skins inside large, 100% new, predominantly Austrian 500L oak puncheons. Sourced from clones 5, 10/5 and Abel from the McCreanor vineyard in central Martinborough, the result is … Read More

Rock Ferry Marlborough Brut Pinot Blanc 2022

2 March 2025

Rock Ferry Marlborough Brut Pinot Blanc 2022 $35 Pinot Blanc is known as many names in different parts of the world. It’s Weissburgunder or Klevner in Austria, Fehér Burgundi in Hungary, Pinot Bianco in Spain and Italy, Rulandské bílé in the Czech Republic, Rulandské Biele in Slovakia and Bijeli Pinot in  Croatia. So there you … Read More

Rock Ferry The Corners Vineyard Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023

2 March 2025

Rock Ferry The Corners Vineyard Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 $29 A really layered and interesting Sauvignon Blanc here from the organic Corners vineyard on the Wairau plains where predominantly Clone 316 vines grow. Fermented wild in a combo of a concrete egg and seasoned, older French Oak puncheons and left on lees for 8 months, … Read More

Thirsty Work is a television show that unearths some of the personalities behind New Zealand’s successful and innovative Wine and Beverage Industry. Originally broadcast on Food TV (SKY ch.9) then on TV3 with subsequent eps on Amazon Prime, Thirsty Work soaks up New Zealand’s beverage landscape.  Not just vineyards, but barrel halls, tank rooms, cellar doors, wine stores, supermarkets, breweries and backyard vignerons.

Missed Series 4 of Thirsty Work? Fret not, just  click  here to zoom directly to view on demand.