3 syrah stars

12 December 2015By Yvonne

Published NZ Herald Sat 12 Dec 2015   Four weeks ago the 24th Annual Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction collectively raised $141k for Cranford Hospice by auctioning off rare wine lots.  Mucho big bucks were dropped on syrah, a rising star from Bridge Pa…   Selaks Reserve HB Syrah 2013 $22 Sourced from the Selaks ‘Home’ … Read More

Goodwill & great wine at auction

8 December 2015By Yvonne

Published NZME Regional Newspapers Tue 8 Dec 2015   Back on November 14th the Hawke’s Bay wine community achieved something rather incredible.  They sold a record $141,000.00 worth of wine and gave every cent to Cranford Hospice in Hastings at the 24th Annual Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction. Cranford is one of the leading palliative care … Read More

A triple treat

5 December 2015By Yvonne

Published NZ Herald Sat 5 Dec 2015   Tween television appears obsessed with churning out programs featuring perfect-looking kids striving to become a ‘triple threat’, meaning they need to sing, dance and act better than anyone else in order to be a STAR.  In winemaking you need great ground, great fruit and great skills – … Read More

Dive into a boutique bottle

3 December 2015By Yvonne

Published NZ Herald Sat 28 Nov 2015   Make this the weekend you step sideways from commercial brands and dive into something on the boutique side of the bed.  These will have you walking the stride of pride the next day…   Collaboration Aurulent Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2013 $35 Hawke’s Bay-based winemaker Julianne (Julz) Brogden is … Read More

Summer scorcher calls for bubbles

1 December 2015By Yvonne

Published NZME Regional Newspapers Tue 1 Dec 2015   I’m writing this column from the comfy new couches at an air-conditioned Napier airport on a day that the weather boffins have predicted will hit thirty-plus degrees. Updates on Facebook are flooding my feed with photos from the dashboards of friends’ cars with outside temperatures of … Read More

Wine with experimental grapes

1 December 2015By Yvonne

Published NZME Regional Newspapers Sat 28 Nov 2015   When Kim and Erica Crawford sold the Kim Crawford brand back in 2003, it was fair to say the New Zealand wine industry stood back, scratched it’s collective scalp and wondered what on earth these two vin-trepreneureal powerhouses would do next.  The silence stretched for years … Read More

Mr Riggs ‘The Truant’ McLaren Vale Shiraz 2013

1 December 2015By Yvonne

Mr Riggs ‘The Truant’ McLaren Vale Shiraz 2013 $17.99 ★★★½ If you like your shiraz with meat on its bones then this will be an instant hit.  Deeply earthy on the nose and showing ultra-ripe plum, blackcurrant, smoky tar and molasses complexity in the mouth – it’s a rich, peppery wine and a meal in … Read More

Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Montepulciano 2014

1 December 2015By Yvonne

Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Montepulciano 2014 $30 ★★★★ There’s less than 1ha planted of this super-savoury Italian red in Trinity Hill’s Gimblett Gravels vineyard – and there’s precious little planted elsewhere in the country.  It’s a hearty, ribsticking red with really interesting meaty, leathery notes, lovely hints of coughdrop and cocoa alongside pepper and smoky, … Read More

Waimea Nelson Albariño 2015

1 December 2015By Yvonne

Waimea Nelson Albariño 2015 $25 ★★★★★ Albariño is a signature Spanish white variety that clearly loves its new home in Nelson by the looks of things.  The team at Waimea have seriously outdone themselves here with this musk and nectarine scented wine, bursting with tangy pear, peach and apple flavours and finishing with lovely crushed … Read More

Sawmill India Pale Ale

1 December 2015By Yvonne

Sawmill India Pale Ale 330ml cans (4pack $17) Sweet, passionfruity hops, herbaceous notes and a resinous lift make it difficult to prise this delicious beer away from your nose for long enough to sip it!  But when you do, you’ll be met with layers of crisp citrus combined with caramelised malts and a long, tangy … Read More