Maison Noire Hawke’s Bay Arneis 2021 $24 Wow! This grape is best known for being a Northern Italian stallion. However, when Frenchman Guillaume Thomas got hold of some and decided to grow it in the ancient soils left by the Tuki Tuki River in Havelock North, it’s become a Hawke’s Bay hero well and truly. … Read More
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Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020
Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020 $22 Sourced from the famed Claim 431 vineyard, this superb value for money pinot noir is packed with punchy raspberry and cherry characters, floral feistiness on the nose, fresh acidity and saucy spice layers on the finish. Easy, lush and very very nice for the price. Mud House
Calvert Bannockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2018
Calvert Bannockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2018 $64 Lovers of great New Zealand pinot noir will be familiar with the name ‘Calvert’. It appears on some of the greatest examples to ever come from Central Otago. The vineyard itself is located on Felton Road in Bannockburn and the Calvert family were one of the first … Read More
Folding Hill Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017
Folding Hill Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017 $45 A bumper 2017 harvest means that finally there’s more Folding Hill pinot noir to go around than previous vintages and that’s an excellent thing. This year the pinot has less of the meaty, earthy, savoury tones of the 2016 and more of the blueberry, tamarillo and spice … Read More
Folding Hill Orchard Block Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016
Folding Hill Orchard Block Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016 $45 Just 80 cases were made of this smooth, silky pinot noir, which grows in a small block next door to an orchard of cider apple trees. Wild fermented and matured in oak barrels for 20 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered, this is a … Read More
Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Redstone Syrah 2019
Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Redstone Syrah 2019 $120 The ‘treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen philosophy applied by winemaker Chris Scott to these vines, is pretty hardcore. I mean dropping the crop by 60%-70%? That’s practically abuse! And yet this Bridge Pa-grown wine tastes like its long, loose bunches have been lovingly cuddled and … Read More
Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Gimblett Gravels Malbec 2020
Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Gimblett Gravels Malbec 2020 $120 Cropped to just one bunch per shoot, a very meagre amount equating to roughly 1.2 – 1.3kg of fruit per 1m of canopy, it’s no wonder the wine smells and tastes so densely concentrated. Soft, suede-like tannins cloak a core of seasoned leather, graphite, smoky … Read More
Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Redstone Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2019
Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Redstone Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2019 $120 For a wine that hasn’t been fined or filtered, it’s deeply inky and glossy in the glass and the floral aspect is super-pretty. In addition to red rose, plum and boysenberry aromatics, classic Bridge Pa graphite and iron filings also unveil on the nose … Read More
Church Road One Redstone Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Church Road 1 Single Vineyard Redstone Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 $120 According to winemaker Chris Scott, cabernet sauvignon is an optimistic variety. “It’ll deal with stress in the vineyard calmly, just assuming things will improve, so it kind of sailed through the vagaries of the 2019 vintage easily,” he says. Clearly, the cabernet’s positive attitude paid … Read More
Giesen Uncharted Marlborough Chardonnay 2020
Giesen Uncharted Marlborough Chardonnay 2020 $28 Erupting with roast apricot, pineapple and cinnamon toast characters on the nose and sending the palate into an apple-edged, peach party on the palate. The monster 2020 vintage has seriously delivered something delicious. Fat, juicy and jumping with energy and tension, it’s a rich, ripe, facewallop of a chardonnay … Read More