Colere SolEra Marlborough Pinot Blanc-Pinot Gris NV $33 
Gorgeously golden in the glass, this blend of pinot gris and pinot blanc comes from the Kerner Vineyard, one of New Zealand’s most renown vineyard sites. So how has it been constructed? Essentially winemaker Julian Richards has cleverly blended one-barrel of 2012 Pinot Gris/Pinot Blanc Blanc with two-barrels of 2016 Pinot Gris and then three-barrels of 2017 Pinot Blanc, “with a ‘Little Touch of Riesling (LTR) to lift”. And far out does it have ‘lift’! With each component being crafted by a different winemaker, it’s incredibly complex and completely unique. Aromatically it heaves with caramelised nashi notes, spiced pear, freshly baled hay, wildflowers and rain-on-hot-asphalt minerality. Each component has been handpicked and wild-fermented in barrel before being bottled unfiltered. Beautifully complex and spicy and showing dried fruit and mixed peel flavours before a long, dry textural finish.
