Swift Wines Bridge Pa Triangle Rosé 2022 $29 With probably the prettiest rosé label I’ve seen in a very long time, this wine is definitely a feast for the eyes. Winemaker Lauren Swift has a lifelong love affair with syrah, so there was no question it’d be the grape used for her new rosé. This … Read More
Hawke’s Bay
Swift Wines Maraekakaho Gamay Blanc de Noir 2022
Swift Wines Maraekakaho Gamay Blanc de Noir 2022 $36 Sourced from one of the oldest gamay vineyards in the country, Lucknow Vineyard in Maraekakaho, the fruit was lightly pressed immediately after harvest to glean the freshest juice, but the least amount of colour from the skins. Fermented at cool temperatures in stainless steel and left … Read More
Swift Wines Bridge Pa Triangle Whole Bunch Chardonnay 2021
Swift Wines Bridge Pa Triangle Whole Bunch Chardonnay 2021 $36 Cardoness Vineyard in Hawke’s Bay’s Bridge Pa Triangle is in conversion to organics and it’s where winemaker Lauren Swift has sourced the Clone 15 and Mendoza fruit from for this richly-styled, fresh-as-a-daisy chardonnay. With aromas of caramelised oak, fresh popcorn, grilled grapefruit and edged with … Read More
Swift Wines Bridge Pa Triangle Chenin Blanc 2022
Swift Wines Bridge Pa Triangle Chenin Blanc 2022 $36 Fretting that the only local chenin blanc you’ve tasted seems to be a touch sweet? Help has arrived in the form of Lauren Swift’s shiny, new, intensely dry example which boasts a lift of apple skin, lime zest, and quartzy, chalky minerality. The palate is beautifully … Read More
Mills Reef Reserve Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris 2022
Mills Reef Reserve Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris 2022 $22 Super-attractive nose showing pear strudel spices and creamy quince and apple notes, soft peach and nutmeggy magic which all flows through onto the palate in a wave of soothing, refreshing, cleansing crispness. It’s a lovely, beautifully balanced style showing layers of stylish complexity and a long … Read More
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Tempranillo 2021
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Tempranillo 2021 $39.99 Trinity Hill first bottled tempranillo back in 2002, from a single barrel, making just 25 dozen bottles. They were one of the first wineries in New Zealand to leap into tempranillo and since then they’ve become an absolute force for good. Especially when it’s from one of Hawke’s … Read More
Te Mata Estate Awatea Cabernets Merlot 2020
Te Mata Estate Awatea Cabernets Merlot 2020 $40 If I were in a hostage situation and the gunman said “Somebody better tell me what’s the greatest local Bordeaux-style red wine that I can buy for under fifty bucks, in the next five seconds or the granny gets it!” I would be hollering “Te Mata Awatea … Read More
Petane Wines Kōtare Block Hawke’s Bay Gamay 2022
Petane Wines Kōtare Block Hawke’s Bay Gamay 2022 $30 Grown at their Eskdale vineyard, this is the very first bottling of Gamay for Petane Wines. Handpicked and fermented with partial carbonic maceration (where whole berries are left in an oxygen-free environment to ferment inside their own skins) and then pressed into older, neutral French oak … Read More
Petane Wines It’s Only Hawke’s Bay Gamay Piquette 2022
Petane Wines It’s Only Hawke’s Bay Gamay Piquette 2022 $22 Winemaker Philip Barber has had a crack at this ancient, yet newly trendy style by using gamay grape skins, rainwater, a few baskets of pinot gris and a decent 60lt splash of gamay juice which was re-fermented for 5 days in tank to close to … Read More
Petane Kōura Block Hawke’s Bay Pinot Blanc 2022
Petane Kōura Block Hawke’s Bay Pinot Blanc 2022 $28 Pinot Blanc is a marvellously tasty mutation of pinot noir and its spiritual home is over in the Alsace region of France. You’ll also find it in Germany, Italy, Hungary and now Hawke’s Bay. This is the debut pinot blanc for winemaker Philip Barber, who has … Read More