Valli Waitaki Vineyard North Otago Riesling 2021

26 August 2022By Yvonne

Valli Waitaki Vineyard North Otago Riesling 2021 $35 Clean as a whistle and showing whipcrack precision, this Waitaki riesling is laced with lime zest, crunchy green apple and a hint of frisky mandarin on the nose and palate. flinty minerality and crushed shell notes cloak its focused acid spine and core of citrus. Finely tuned … Read More

Abbey Estate Bridge Pa Flirt Brut NV

25 August 2022By Yvonne

Abbey Estate Bridge Pa Flirt Brut NV $40 Crafted in a blanc de blanc style by winemaker Dermot Haworth, this is an extremely refined, elegant, cleansing and crammed with class. Creamy almond and rising dough notes combine with crisp lemon and green apple goodness, while the bubbles are pinprick-fine and create tiny, delicate beading as … Read More

Moutere Hills Nelson Viognier 2020

23 August 2022By Yvonne

Moutere Hills Nelson Viognier 2020 $45 Leaning toward the mineral, dry end of the spectrum, this viognier has a very subtle nose yet unveils ginger, nutmeg and a hit of mineral-edged chalkiness on the finish. Lacks the classic stonefruit, jasmine and citrus oil notes that viognier is famous for, but will appeal to those who … Read More

Folding Hill Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020

23 August 2022By Yvonne

Folding Hill Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020 $45 Just 300 cases were made of this unfined, unfiltered pinot noir and as soon as word gets out on how spice-stacked and characterful it is, I imagine they’ll be down to zero cases pretty quick. Vibrant, energetic and laced with tamarillo and dark cherry complexity on the … Read More

Pegasus Bay Waipara Valley Merlot Cabernet 2019

21 August 2022By Yvonne

Pegasus Bay Waipara Valley Merlot Cabernet 2019 $34 Three years on from harvest and this soothing, saucy Bordeaux-style blend is soothing, lithe, cocoa and coffee-edged. A saucy blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec and cabernet franc, it was aged in French oak for 18 months (25% of the barrels were new) which encouraged the wine … Read More

Piwakawaka Gisborne Viognier 2020

21 August 2022By Yvonne

Piwakawaka Gisborne Viognier 2020 $25-$28 It’s tricky striking the balance between fruit sweetness and acid tension, but Kristin and Steve Parkes reckon they’ve cracked it. They were landed with 2ha of viognier in front of a home they’d bought back in 2013  and that catapulted them into the crazy world of winegrowing. The grapes are … Read More

Valli Waitaki Vineyard North Otago Pinot Gris 2021

21 August 2022By Yvonne

Valli Waitaki Vineyard North Otago Pinot Gris 2021 $34.50 White gold and gleaming in the glass, this snappy-fresh pinot gris has green pear, baked apple, tweaks of ginger, spice and white peach. Crafted by Jen Parr, it’s an intense style, with slight herbaceous notes, white pepper and a complex, dry. slightly saline mouthfeel. Valli Wine

Monowai Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2022

21 August 2022By Yvonne

Monowai Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2022 $24.99 Emma Lowe and her husband Marcello are the super-talented duo who craft this crisp, clean, troptastic sauvignon blanc in their small but perfectly formed winery waaay out on Matapiro Road in Hawke’s Bay’s Crownthorpe district. The stones are so big in the vineyards out there, the locals call … Read More

Te Mata Elston Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2020

21 August 2022By Yvonne

Te Mata Elston Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2020 $37-$43 There’s a reason why 2020 will go down as one of the greatest Hawke’s Bay vintages of the century. Not just that somehow during a nationwide lockdown and under incredibly tricky, worker safety conditions, did the wines even get made – but the ripening season was a … Read More

Matahiwi Wild Holly Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2021

21 August 2022By Yvonne

Matahiwi Wild Holly Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2021 $35-$44 Crafted by winemaker Liam Macklin*,  this wild and woolly pinot has had 3 weeks on skins to extract colour and texture and then aged for 14 months in French oak to inject some smoky tones and according to Liam, it was created with “No additives, no fining, … Read More