Vidal Reserve Gimblett Gravels Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 $19 ★★★★½ The gold medals are already swinging off the neck of this wine crafted by the ridiculously talented Hugh Crichton. A blend of 57 % merlot, 35% cabernet sauvignon, 7% malbec and 1% cabernet franc, this wine hits that sweet spot between delivering muscular, meaty, dark … Read More
Author: Yvonne
Esk Valley Gimblett Gravels Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec 2014
Esk Valley Gimblett Gravels Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec 2014 $19 ★★★★★ Super-glossy and garnet-black in the glass, this seriously-overdelivers-for-the-price wine has racked up an impressive pedigree of awards at major wine shows in recent years. I love the aroma of soy, blackcurrant leaf, dried herbs and carob. Black plum, biscuit oak and a backbone of … Read More
Falua Terciua Touriga Nacional 2011
Falua Terciua Touriga Nacional 2011 $22 ★★★★ “I reckon it’s an absolute star, and is my go-to red wine right now.” Says Richard Sherriff of Wellington’s Regional Wines & Spirits – who isn’t easy to impress. “Dollar for dollar there isn’t much that comes close to it” – and I’d have to agree. This excellent … Read More
Cantine Menhir ‘Il Mardorlo’ Negroamaro 2014
Cantine Menhir ‘Il Mardorlo’ Negroamaro 2014 $16.95 ★★★½ Sniffing this wine for the first time is like walking into a delicatessen where every available piece of ceiling space has a hunk of drying meat or salami hanging from it. Rich, meaty and spicy, this superb-value sip is sourced from the Salento region in Puglia, Italy, … Read More
Luna Argenta Appassimento Negroamaro Primitivo 2013
Luna Argenta Appassimento Negroamaro Primitivo 2013 $24 ★★★★ The ‘Appassimento’ style is made from grapes that are partially dried or ‘raisining on the vine’ That dessicating fruit produces a rich, spicy-sweet spectrum of flavours and textures that are incredibly approachable and dangerously easy to enjoy. It’s a Puglia-grown blend of Negroamaro and Primitivo, otherwise known … Read More
Burn Cottage Moonlight Race Central Otago Pinot Noir 2014
Burn Cottage Moonlight Race Central Otago Pinot Noir 2014 $45 ★★★★ Way back in the early years of European settlement of Central Otago, hundreds of water races were built to direct water from the mountains down to the prospectors, and this pinot is named after one which still flows through the property. Unlike its brooding, … Read More
Black Barn Unoaked Chardonnay 2014
Black Barn Unoaked Chardonnay 2014 $22 ★★★★ I have a thing about the word ‘unoaked’. It sort of implies that there’s something ‘un’ about the wine, that something’s missing or been taken away – and that couldn’t be further from the truth here. Packed to the cap with roast peach, pineapple and tangy citrus, winemaker … Read More
Lawson’s Dry Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 2013
Lawson’s Dry Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 2013 $28 ★★★★★ Marcus Wright and Becs Wiffen are like the Torvill and Dean of New Zealand winemaking teams, and the emotion involved in drinking this wine they’ve created is like watching those athletes ice-skate their Bolero routine at the 1984 Olympics all over again. That sense of something … Read More
Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Barossa Shiraz 2013
Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Barossa Shiraz 2013 $38 ★★★★½ There’s something oddly comforting about drinking a wine from a bottle that has a picture of a grapevine so old and gnarly it looks like Treebeard the Ent from Lord of the Rings on the label. Dark, inky-magenta coloured and bursting with dusty leather, eucalypt, ultra-ripe … Read More
Zeppelin ‘Big Bertha’ Barossa Shiraz 2014
Zeppelin ‘Big Bertha’ Barossa Shiraz 2014 $24 ★★★★ Saturated magenta colour and oozing sweet cherry and berry aromas, gentle spices and a palate soaked with fruit, vanilla, pepper and hints of dark chocolate. This is a cracker of a wine that’s smooth, velvety and dangerously easy to drink. For stockists contact Red & White Cellar … Read More