Misty Cove Landmark Series Marlborough Grüner Veltliner 2024 $24 I’ve tasted many a Grüner V over the years, but it’s the examples from our mates at Misty that repeatedly bring the grins. Instead of being subtle, light, and feathery (as many of the native Austrian examples are), this elegantly-styled wallop of a wine is riddled … Read More
Author: Yvonne
Q Waitaki Valley Pinot Noir 2023
Q Waitaki Valley Pinot Noir 2023 $74 Waitaki might be one of the harshest locations to grow grapes, but this new vintage from Q proves that treat-em-mean-keep-em-keen theory truly turns out elegantly plush, delicately spicy, cherry and rhubarb-laced pinot noir with soothing, suede-like tannins and stylish length of flavour. Owner Jules Stephan can trace his … Read More
Jules Taylor OTQ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022
Jules Taylor OTQ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022 $35-$45 Created from fruit grown in the Altimarloch vineyard in Marlborough’s upper Awatere Valley, one of the coldest sites in the region, the Jules Taylor Wines OTQ Sauvignon Blanc 2022 ($35-$45) is a style that Jules herself has been tinkering with “on the quiet” ever since she began … Read More
Matawhero Irwin Gisborne Chardonnay 2021
Matawhero Irwin Gisborne Chardonnay 2021 $60 Kirsten and Richard Searle choose only the absolute best quality fruit to go into this, their flagship Chardonnay, a wine named after Bill and Denis Irwin, the pioneering founders of Matawhero, men who put Gisborne fine wine on the international map. The 2021 Irwin roars with nectarine and grapefruit … Read More
Jules Taylor Late Harvest Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Jules Taylor Late Harvest Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024 $37 Energetic and incredibly aromatic, this wine roars with honeysuckle, passionfruit curd, creamed honey and caramelised peachy characters. Intensely sweet, but beautifully balanced and refreshing and finishing with zesty, candied mandarin and toffee apple notes. It’s a zesty, mango-tastic style. Jules Taylor
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Marsanne Roussanne 2024
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Marsanne Roussanne 2024 $40 Over the last couple of decades, Trinity Hill have quietly been nurturing a few rows of these two Rhone Valley grapes and crafting tiny amounts of their own signature blend, and those in the know have been excitedly squirrelling each vintage away and appreciating it’s deliciously dry, … Read More
Yealands Single Vineyard Marlborough P.G.R. 2024
Yealands Single Vineyard Marlborough P.G.R. 2024 $29 This is one of my favourite blended whites of the moment. One of my favourites because of its crunchy-crisp, floral, apple and citrus-stacked aromas, its lacing of soft, musky spices and its fresh, lychee-laden mid-palate textures. This bottle of Awatere Valley-grown goodness also wowed me because tasting it … Read More
Domain Road Defiance Central Otago Chardonnay 2021
Domain Road Defiance Central Otago Chardonnay 2021 $35 Graeme Crosbie grows three clones of Chardonnay in his Defiance Vineyard, 809, 1066 and 548, which are the three great clones used by the world-famous, French Grand Crus of Corton-Charlemagne in Burgundy. Central Otago chardonnay is rocking my socks right now and the Defiance is absolutely entering … Read More
Brookfields Robertson Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris 2024
Brookfields Robertson Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris 2024 $18 If you’ve been avoiding Pinot Gris because you thought it was sweet and blousy, then wrap your chops around this new release from Brookfields and all your wildest dreams will come true. Prepare for an immediate crisp, dry, generous impression, and then enjoy the fact that it’s … Read More
Chard Farm Hawkesburn Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022
Chard Farm Hawkesburn Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022 $88 From a tiny site where four clones of vines grow high on a terrace above the Bannockburn Inlet, comes a Pinot Noir that erupts with vibrantly bright florals, fresh cherry, redcurrant and spice-dusted rhubarb on the nose. All that aromatic awesomeness osmoses through to the palate, … Read More