Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2021 $70 The ‘Home Block’ for Maison Noire’s winemaker Guillaume Thomas, is a tiny, 1.5ha vineyard growing on limestone laden soils on the winding road out to Waimarama Beach. Just 80 cases of this syrah was made, so it’s super-limited, but super-tasty. Inky-dark and glossily gorgeous, and boasts … Read More
home block
Martinborough Vineyard Home Block Pinot Noir 2019
Martinborough Vineyard Home Block Pinot Noir 2019 $69 One of Martinborough’s foundation wineries, Martinborough Vineyard’s pinot noirs have an aristocratic signature, a spicy edge and delicious dried herb intensity. With its colour of Karma Choc Dahlias and hints of rhubarb and black baccara rose on the nose, it’s an impressive wine with a tonne of … Read More
Lowburn Ferry Home Block Central Otago Pinot Noir 2021
Lowburn Ferry Home Block Central Otago Pinot Noir 2021 $115 Presented in a gift box inscribed with ‘150’ as a nod to 150 years of continual human interaction with the land which is now home to a biodynamically-farmed vineyard where regenerative farming is now the norm. A 1ha parcel from the original 23yo vines in … Read More
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020 $40 Wow. This is one sexy wine! Deep, glossy and crimson-hued, I love the waft of caramelised spices, coffee, sweet cocoa and buckets of baked fruit on the nose. It’s intensely fragrant and gushes with peppercorns, red currant and smoked cherry flavours on the palate. The tannins … Read More
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Chenin Blanc 2021
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Chenin Blanc 2021 $30 Grown in the deep limestone soils of winemaker Guillaume Thomas’ home vineyard high up on the Waimarama Road, this bracingly fresh, frisky, apple-edged chenin blanc is absolutely heaving with flavour and personality. Grapefruit, guava, stacks of citrus and overflowing with honeysuckle and jasmine florals. it’s … Read More
Hunters Home Block Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2020
Hunters Home Block Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2020 $29 This shiny, new sauvignon has been crafted using only the free-run juice from hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed sauvignon blanc and it’s darn lovely to sip. Refined and delicately structured, yet bursting with passionfruit, red capsicum, hints of basil and lime leaf and showing perfectly prickly acidity to elongate … Read More
The Hunting Lodge Home Block Waimauku Chardonnay 2019
The Hunting Lodge Home Block Waimauku Chardonnay 2019 $64 Grown on the Waimauku Clays, half an hour or so’s drive out west of the Auckland CBD on the Northwestern motorway, Chief Winemaker Pete Turner has been carefully watching over their 80acre estate to finally decide if and when it’d produce chardonnay worthy of their flagship … Read More
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Franc 2019
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Franc 2019 $28 Sourced from their tiny vineyard located high up on the Waimarama Road, this is a local take on a French favourite grape from the Loire Valley. This is Cabernet Franc crafted in a softer, more restrained style than most with fine-grained astringency in the mid-palate. … Read More
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Chenin Blanc 2020
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Chenin Blanc 2020 $30 Crafted from fruit grown in a tiny coast-facing vineyard amongst the hills along the Waimarama Road, this chenin blanc has clean, creamy, almond and apple aromatics and a super-nice nougat and citrus custard character in the mid palate which I really really love. But the … Read More
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2018
Maison Noire Home Block Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2018 $35 Grown on the limestone-laden soils of the Waimarama Road, this syrah has its own distinct personality and it’s not a massively peppery one. Flying in the face of what we consider ‘classic’ Hawke’s Bay syrah, the Home Block is intensely floral and fruit-driven, laced with baking … Read More
12