Palliser Martinborough Riesling 2024 $32 I love how there’s a ‘sweetness gauge’ on the back label, telling us that this wine leans into the dry side with a tweak of sweetness, which gives it great balance and poise. Classic green apple and lime zest notes are drizzled with a hint of manuka honey, white nectarine, … Read More
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Ayrburn Whimsy Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020
Ayrburn Whimsy Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020 $29 Maturing gracefully and scented with scorched rhubarb, charred cherry, and sunbaked earth, this pinot is delivering classic brick dust and forest floor savoury notes. The textures are slippery, but the acidity is still youthful, and the tannins have powdery pluckiness. Ayrburn
Lateral Wines Bannockburn Skins 2022
Lateral Wines Bannockburn Skins 2022 $35 A blend of Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc by winemaking couple Pip Batteley and Austin Black, it’s got that bronze-copper colour typical of a skin-soaked example. Aromas of soft white pepper, quartzy minerality, a hint of nashi and fennel. On the palate, there’s a dried herb, smoky vein, dandelion, … Read More
French Peak Banks Peninsula Chardonnay 2023
French Peak Banks Peninsula Chardonnay 2023 $52 Absolutely stacked with shiny medals, this Chardonnay from the scenic surrounds of Banks Peninsula is light, cleansing, softly oaked, and laced with a layer of creamy complexity and delivers very youthful acidity. It’s a style I’d like to go back to in another year or so. White peach, … Read More
Ayrburn Homestead Central Otago Pinot Noir 2024
Ayrburn Homestead Central Otago Pinot Noir 2024 $65 Exotically spiced and roaring with dark cherry saturation, typical of fruit ripened under the baking Bendigo heat. Baked rhubarb, rooibos tea, heightened blueberry and blackcurrant characters merge with seductively spiced, smoky oak, juicy, grainy tannins and showing a strong, warming, muscular, sinewy finish. Deliciously drinkable now, yet … Read More
Ayrburn Central Otago Bonnet Rouge Nouveau Pinot Noir 2023
Ayrburn Central Otago Bonnet Rouge Nouveau Pinot Noir 2023 $45 The winemaking team at Ayrburn have opted to have a crack at crafting a lighter ‘nouveau’ style pinot noir that’s just as happy being chilled down to serve on a sizzling day, or sipped fireside during winter. Aromatically it’s ultra-bright, perky, roaring with redcurrant, raspberry, … Read More
Lansdowne Estate Wairarapa Syrah 2016
Lansdowne Estate Wairarapa Syrah 2016 $46 Nine years on from vintage, and this syrah is heading into its tertiary period, where the fruit is morphing into deeply savoury, gamey spectrums, the once peppery aromatics are now more leather and earth-focused, and the tannins have softened considerably. Shepherded from berry to bottle by local legend Karl … Read More
Ayrburn Central Otago Pinot Gris 2024
Ayrburn Central Otago Pinot Gris 2024 $40 From one of the most exciting new wine businesses emerging from Central Otago comes a Pinot Gris that’s so beautifully balanced it’s been headhunted by the Cirque du Soleil tightrope team. No joke. Sourced from vineyards in Gibbston Valley, it’s scented with poached pear, softly spiced quince and … Read More
Lansdowne Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2014
Lansdowne Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2014 $42 Hear me out. Sometimes you can find absolute treasures inside the most unassuming packaging. This wine is an excellent example of that. Eleven years old and made by one of the Wairarapa’s legendary winemakers, Karl Johner, this pinot noir, grown on the original Beetham-owned farm (famous for Heritage … Read More
Pegasus Bay Virtuoso Waipara Chardonnay 2021
Pegasus Bay Virtuoso Waipara Chardonnay 2021 $68 Mat Donaldson and his team only create a Virtuoso when the fruit is exceptional, and in 2021, clearly the Chardonnay gods were smiling on their vineyards in Waipara, North Canterbury. The result is a deeply smoky, complex wine laced with baked stonefruit, charred pineapple and grilled grapefruit. Caramelised, … Read More