Riverby Estate Marlborough Pinot Noir 2021 $28 Grown on land transformed by the redirection of Marlborough’s Opawa River back in the 1930s, this pinot noir erupts with bright redcurrant, raspberry and rhubarb aromas which just instantly make you grin. The palate is slippery, soothing and juicy and unveils a core of lightly charred oak, soft … Read More
Doctors Flat Single Vineyard Bannockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019
Doctors Flat Single Vineyard Bannockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 $52-$58 Anyone who loves great pinot noir should phone their nearest wine shop now to ask if they have this wine in stock. If they do, hoon down there immediately and celebrate that you’ve carpe’d that diem. If they don’t, wail loudly over the phone … Read More
Main Divide North Canterbury Merlot Cabernet 2020
Main Divide North Canterbury Merlot Cabernet 2020 $18-$21 A lipsmacking blend of classic varieties produces a plummy, cocoa and blueberry-laced wine that’s ripe, spicy and very easy to drink. It’s a smile-inducing, uncomplicated style that’ll work nicely with anything meaty. Just drink it, don’t overthink it. Main Divide
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Marsanne Viognier 2020
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Marsanne Viognier 2020 $39 A blend of 92% marsanne with a splishy splash of 8% viognier has been fermented and aged in barrels for 17 months before bottling and the result is a generously dry (14%alc) wine loaded with lemony complexity, green apple goodness and a mineral-stacked spine. Refreshing and cleansing, … Read More
Rockburn Central Otago Chardonnay 2022
Rockburn Central Otago Chardonnay 2022 $32 Central Otago is one of the harshest environments to grow grapes. Inland, mountainous and with almost no humidity, very low organic matter in the soils, weather extremes like you wouldn’t believe and crazy people who insist on hurling themselves off bridges and out of helicopters and into half-pipes on … Read More
Yealands Estate Single Vineyard Marlborough Albariño 2022
Estate Single Vineyard Marlborough Albariño 2022 $23-$27 I can see myself slathering this sauce across some sort of sublime Spanish fish dish and for that reason I’d launch myself into a bottle of this shiny-new albariño (pronounced al–bar-een-yo) While the spiritual home of Spain’s signature white wine might be in the Rías Baixas (ree-hass bye-shass) … Read More
Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022
Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022 $40 Winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis has selected fruit from their Parkburn and Gibbston Valley Back Road vineyards to star in this, one of New Zealands most consistent and reliably tasty pinot noirs. The nose of the 2022 shows classic cherry, black tea and raspberry jus notes on the nose and … Read More
Smith & Sheth Cru Heretaunga Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020
Smith & Sheth Cru Heretaunga Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020 $40 Sourced from their Omahu (Gimblett Gravels) and Mangatahi (inland west of Hastings) vineyards, this syrah has an earthy elegance and plushness from its whole-berry, un-crushed ferment and from being matured for 14 months in French oak of which 35% were new barrels. The tannins are … Read More
Terrace Edge North Canterbury Albariño 2022
Terrace Edge North Canterbury Albariño 2022 $29 Gorgeously golden in the glass and crammed with spiced peach, luscious lemon and baked apple complexity, it’s a crisp, crunchy yet generously juicy white wine from the limestone-layered soils of North Canterbury. Clearly, this Spanish variety is loving living under the Waipara sun and if you’re a plate … Read More
Clos Henri Solange Marlborough Blanc de Noirs Methode Traditionnelle 2020
Clos Henri Solange Marlborough Blanc de Noirs Methode Traditionnelle 2020 $45 ‘Sainte Solange’ is the tiny rimu chapel relocated in 2003 to the Clos Henri vineyard to serve as their tasting room. Named in memory of Solange Bourgeois, the late wife of Clos Henri’s founder Henri Bourgeois, ‘Solange’ also means ‘dignified’ in French so it … Read More