Lamont Central Otago Pinot Noir Rosé 2018 $27 Produced from 100% pinot noir grown in the Chinaman’s Terrace vineyard in Bendigo, this rosé holds nothing back. Pinker than a freshly slapped cheek, this wine smells of creaming soda and red liquorice, watermelon gelato and those red loveheart lollies in your two dollar mixture from the … Read More
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Hawkes Ridge Hawke’s Bay Reserve Tempranillo 2016
Hawkes Ridge Hawke’s Bay Reserve Tempranillo 2016 $35 From the dusty, dry terraces left from the flow of the Ngaruroro River, comes this savoury, meaty, spicy wine. Fleshy and fruit-forward, it’s a dry, prune and pepper-laced wine that tastes like it was made 10 years ago. The alcohol is a hefty 14.5% which gives it … Read More
Squawking Magpie The Chatterer Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris 2018
Squawking Magpie The Chatterer Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris 2018 $19.95 This is one of my sure-fire, never-fail, no-hold-barred, people pleasing pinot gris choices. There’s a ripeness and robustness in the Squawking Magpie style that promotes a pear, quince and quick-fix of spiced apple awesome into every sip. It’s crisp, clean, cranking with honeysuckle and heaving … Read More
Hancock & Sons Lillies Hawke’s Bay Rosé 2018
Hancock & Sons LilliesHawke’s Bay Rosé 2018 $22.50 With its pale as palest rose gold colour, this rosé, named after the ship that bought John Hancock’s great-great-grandparents from Cornwall to South Australia, is quite possibly the prettiest thing I’ve poured all week! From starting out his career in N at Delegat’s in the 1970’s, to … Read More
Silver Wing Preservative Free Waipara Pet-Nat 2018
Silver Wing Preservative Free Waipara Pet-Nat 2018 $30 Fashioned in the ancient pétillant-naturel or méthode ancestrale way of allowing the still-fermenting wine to finish itself off (minds out of the gutter people!) inside the bottle, this blend of hand-picked syrah and pinot noir from Waipara has been fermented ‘wild’, in barrel with native yeasts and … Read More
Te Aro Wine Co Toil and Trouble Hawke’s Bay Pét Nat 2018
Te Aro Wine Co Toil and Trouble Hawke’s Bay Pét Nat 2018 $27.50 Created by Jules Van Costello (owner of Cult Wines and Te Aro Wines) from sauvignon blanc sourced from the Bridge Pa sub-region (with a teensy splash of Marlborough sauvignon blanc to kickstart the ferment, this is a hyper fizzy, crown-sealed firecracker to … Read More
Silver Wing Preservative Free Waipara Sauvignon Semillon 2018
Silver Wing Preservative Free Waipara Sauvignon Semillon 2018 $30 Crafted from a blend of 90% sauvignon blanc and 10% semillon from winemaker Andrew Fox’s Stephenson’s Block that’d been soaked overnight on its skins, this wine was fermented in a 675 litre ceramic egg and matured for 4 months on its yeast lees without batonnage (stirring … Read More
Karikari Estate Hell Hole Merlot Cabernet Franc 2016
Karikari Estate Hell Hole Merlot Cabernet Franc 2016 $27 While the label excited me and had me running for the good glasses, sadly when I poured this wine, the disappointment was a major. I’m a fan of Karikari’s wines, however this blend is ageing WAY too fast. Brown, oxidised, watery and lacking personality and ‘merlotness’ … Read More
The Writer’s Block Waitaki Valley Riesling 2018
The Writer’s Block Waitaki Valley Riesling 2018 $29 Produced by Brendan Seal at his Urbn Winery in central Dunedin from fruit sourced from stunning vineyards in the Waitaki Valley in North Otago. The climate there is so extreme that grapes struggle along, pouring all their energy into tiny, flavour-packed nuggets of niceness. The result is a … Read More
Cypress Terraces Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2014
Cypress Terraces Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2014 $42 Mel and Gus Lawson knew their terraced hillside vineyard would produce some of the most sensational syrah in the region, I’d say they could feel it in their waters, but truth be told, water is not something they see much of and the vines border on dehydration and … Read More