If your muse is all ‘treat em mean, keep em keen’ then they’d best stay surly because this wine is ridiculously grin-inducing. The winemaking team at Massena are mad as cut snakes when it comes to creating crazy-good blends and this South Australian version of Rhone-style classic just explodes with happiness. Yellow-diamond in the glass, … Read More
Manincor Réserve della Contessa Terlano 2016 $40 (5 stars)
Imported by Oh So Pretty wines, here’s a beautifully dry and delicious blend of 60% pinot blanc, 30% chardonnay combined with 10% sauvignon blanc sourced mainly from Manincor’s vineyards in Terlan, with a teensy splash of fruit from Kaltern. Both of these areas are in Südtirol, Northern Italy, and it’s like you can taste the … Read More
Most Wanted South Australia Shiraz 2017 $11.99
Most Wanted South Australia Shiraz 2017 $11.99 If you’re looking for an uncomplicated, easy-to-quaff, blackcurrant and plum-fest then turn off the torch and grab a bottle of this to please the crowds. Simple berry and cherry flavours merge with a hint of liquorice and fruitcake spices to bring an easy-peasy, don’t-even-think-about-it sip. www.blackmarket.co.nz
Collaboration Wines Impression White (chardonnay) 2017 $27
Collaboration Wines Impression White (chardonnay) 2017 $27 Crafted by Julianne Brogden from 100% Mendoza-clone fruit sourced near Havelock North, this is one chardonnay that has elegance written all over it. The oak maturation regime meant subtle handling in older French oak for just 8 months, allowing the delicate white stonefruit to be the hero. Laced … Read More
Yvonne Lorkin wine column for week beginning August 11 2018
Here in kiwiland for the last 40-something years we’ve been creating a wine signature centred around single varietal purity. Put bluntly, we like our wine to be ‘just’ sauvignon blanc, ‘just’ riesling, ‘just’ chardonnay. It’s means those wines are easy to describe, they’re not complicated, you know what you’re getting in the bottle and there’s … Read More
Château Puygueraud Francs – Côtes de Bordeaux 2015 $39.99
Great Bordeaux for under fifty bucks? It can be done and this blend of 80% merlot, 15% cabernet franc and 5% malbec proves it. Pour it into a large glass and swirl it vigourously or decant it if you can. That’ll inject a whoomph of oxygen into the wine, accelerating the aromatics and plumping out … Read More
Paltrinieri Radice Lambrusco Di Sorbara NV $17.70
I can totally see why Wine Enthusiast magazine called this “one of the best Lambrusco’s out there” and chose it as one of their Top 10 wines for 2017. Ruby-coloured, spritzy and beautifully dry, it’s wine with a whiff of wild strawberry and grapefruit zest and a mouthfeel replete with racy, bracing acidity and texture. … Read More
Arc du Rhone Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2013 $46
There’s a group of villages in the Rhone that when joined together look like an arc – and this wine comes from the most famous cru at the southern tip of that arc, the Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Three grapes, grenache noir, syrah and carignan have created an earthy, savoury, tobacco and dark fruited style that, seven years … Read More
Yvonne Lorkin Canvas Column for Sat 11 Aug 2018
Arc du Rhone Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2013 $46 There’s a group of villages in the Rhone that when joined together look like an arc – and this wine comes from the most famous cru at the southern tip of that arc, the Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Three grapes, grenache noir, syrah and carignan have created an earthy, savoury, tobacco and … Read More
The Lazy Dog Queensberry Central Otago ‘Shady Lady’ Rosé 2018
The Lazy Dog Queensberry Central Otago ‘Shady Lady’ Rosé 2018 $23 While I’m not a fan of the cartoony labels on the Lazy Dog wines, the actual wines inside the bottle are pretty darn stylish. This rosé is shiny new and showing hints of creaming soda, raspberry, a nudge of nougat and some dried herbs … Read More