Brightwater Vineyards Lord Rutherford Barrique Nelson Chardonnay 2023 $42 This rich, generously fruity, luxuriously juicy, creamy, and toasty chardonnay is stacked with nectarine niceness and sweetly concentrated, slightly smoky layers licked with almond and ripe yellow plum notes. It’s stunning stuff, and if you’re disciplined enough to leave a little in the bottle for tomorrow, … Read More
Three Fates wine by Yvonne LorkinApril 1, 2025 From left: Holly Girven-Russell, Casey Motley, Hester Nesbitt. Photo: Florence Charvin When it comes to wine stories fitting the cultural zeitgeist, it doesn’t get more current than three, young Hawke’s Bay women stalking each other on social media before opting to leap into business together with the … Read More
Brookfields Back Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2023 $22 Peter Robertson is an ex flatmate of the Wizard of Christchurch. He also began making wine in Hawke’s Bay in the early 1970s and purchased Brookfields Vineyards in 1977, forty years after it was founded in 1937. He was one of the first to leap onto the … Read More
Jenny Dobson Florence Hawke’s Bay Fiano 2023 $45 Having been involved with crafting Fiano from fruit grown in tiny amounts in the Bridge Pa subregion since 2010, Jenny Dobson is easily New Zealand’s foremost expert on Fiano production. Fiano is an ancient, white grape with its spiritual home in Campania in Southern Italy. Still, it … Read More
Huntress Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2023 $48 This is the first time Jannine Rickards has released a syrah from Hawke’s Bay, and she sourced her fruit from the Herringbone Vineyard in Bridge Pa. Taking a third of the grapes and fermenting them as whole clusters (rather than the traditionally crushed berries) has created a wine with … Read More
Saorsa Hawke’s Bay Rosê 2024 $32 Built on a backbone of Bridge Pa-grown syrah, this is a bright, peppery rosé, dry and rich and spicy. In a dimpled punt, it’s a fleshy, feisty style with good richness. And excellent length of flavour. Complex and rich.
Cardrona Distillery The Falcon Single Malt Whisky 700ml $353 This is the flagship single malt from the clever kids at Cardrona and it’s a blend of portions taken from an ex-Olorosso butt, and ex-Bourbon barrel and an ex-Central Otago Pinot Noir barrel. Grilled nectarine, creamed manuka honey, buttery, boozy, raisin and sultana-soaked Christmas cake batter … Read More
Cardrona Distillery American Barrel Single Cask 700ml 52% $353 Ex-Bourbon American seasoned barrels are the most commonly used vessels used in Whisky maturation, and the 200l cask that this example comes from has injected something exotically seductive, something almost emotional and something almost, dare I say it, spiritual. It’s intensely scented with smoked butterscotch, vanilla, … Read More
Cardrona Distillery Single Sherry Cask 700ml 52%abv $353 Crafted using a 500l oak, ex-Olorosso Sherry butt from Southern Spain that’s been lightly charred, and it adds incredible intensity and nutty, fruity richness to this single-cask whisky. Lifted and lusciously scented with caramelised sultanas and raisins, brown butter, hazelnut and smoked nougat, on the palate it … Read More
Cardrona Distillery Single Malt Central Otago Pinot Cask 700ml 52%abv $353 Just 362 bottles of this exclusive whisky were hand bottled in its second batch on December 2 2024. Drawn from French oak pinot noir barrels, this insanely deliciously, exotically-structured whisky roars with honey-buttered, scorched stonefruit, sultana-soaked Christmas cake batter, smoked fig and toasted pecan … Read More