Loveblock is a small organic vineyard project housed at the end of Ugbrooke Road in Marlborough’s Awatere Valley that has been all-consuming for Kim and Erica Crawford for the last few years. A radical departure from commercial sauvignon, this has sweet lemongrass, basil and riverbank flowers on the nose followed by a juicy, multi-layered palate … Read More
Author: Yvonne
Mills Reef Elspeth Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay2014 $39.95 ★★★★
Tim Preston and his team at Mills Reef have done a cracker of a job with this wine. I love the aromas of grapefruit pith, vanilla, peach and pineapple. All those elements also flood across the palate alongside a layer of buttery, creamy complexity. Plus there’s a lovely cleansing character on the finish which makes … Read More
Wine column week commencing June 4th, 2016
Dawn of a new era… Neal and Judy Ibbotsen began growing grapes in Marlborough in 1978 and started making wine under their Saint Clair label in 1994. Since then they’ve clocked up hundreds of awards and earned an enviable international reputation for crafting quality wines from Marlborough and more recently, Hawke’s Bay. Yet something had … Read More
Matavino Matakana Viognier 2015 $25 ★★★½
Matakana is like an El Dorado for rich, aromatic white wines – and this viognier is definitely in it’s happy place here. Grown in Warkworth, the wine oozes sunshine and classic apricot kernel characters alongside hints of jasmine, ripe peach and a seam of sea salt. I like the slippery, oily character of this wine … Read More
Stanley Estates Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2013 $19.99 ★★★½
This canny Awatere Valley producer has beefed up their portfolio by buying up a bunch of quality Hawke’s Bay fruit from a bumper vintage, to create a bold, berry-driven bottle of niceness and spiceness. There’s a soft, powdery ‘chew’ to the texture of this wine, which ticks pretty much every box for good, flavoursome, all-purpose … Read More
Jules Taylor Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2015 $33★★★★
The unmistakeable aroma hit of passionfruit curd, candied lemon zest and dried mango carries completely across a palate saturated with honey, toffee and tangy, limedrop lollies. Sauvignon blanc done sweetly is an absolute treat and Jules Taylor is an expert at getting it fresh, vibrant and loaded with vavoom. Stunning stuff with slivers of hard, … Read More
Pruners Reward Waipara Pinot Noir 2013 $25 ★★★★
This is a very snazzy mid-priced label produced by the talented Porter family team at Bellbird Spring. Don’t let the light, brick-red colour fool you, this is quite a dense and complex wine. Scented with wild strawberry, cherry, pot pourri, sandalwood and allspice, plus it has lovely silky texture and deliciously savoury freshness. It’s extremely … Read More
Philip Shaw The Architect Chardonnay 2015 $20 ★★★½
Sourced from the high altitude Koomooloo vineyard on the slopes of the extinct volcano of Mount Canobolas, this wine is refined, elegant, lean and flinty. There’s a lemony, pith-like layer in the mid-palate – a reflection of the limestone and volcanic soils. I don’t get to drink wines from the Orange region of New South … Read More
Wine column week commencing June 11th, 2016
Eggs in One Basket Easter might be a distant memory of finding bits of crème egg and chocolate buttons down your bra for days on end, but don’t let that stop you from indulging in a little egg-centric indulgence of a more exotic kind. Chardonnay whisperer Tony Bish is Chief Winemaker at Sacred Hill Wines … Read More
Clearview Coastal Chardonnay 2015 $19 ★★★★
There’s nothing about chardonnay that Tim Turvey from Clearview can’t tell you because he and his team on Hawke’s Bay’s Te Awanga coast make pretty much every style of it under the sun. The ‘Coastal’ is soft and biscuity on the nose, with a glimmer of grapefruit, hints of flint and ripe peach, hazelnut and … Read More