Maison Noire Hawke’s Bay Chenin Blanc 2018 ($29)

Golden, glossy in the glass and heaving with crisp, lipsmacking acidity, toasted coconut and grapefruit characters alongside roasted apples and all manner of mineral-induced magic in the mouth.  Chenin blanc hails from the Loire Valley in France (which is where its winemaker Guillaume Thomas is also from) yet it’s clearly made a happy home in Hawke’s Bay’s Tuki Tuki Valley and we should all make it very welcome.

www.maisonnoire.nz