Flaxmore Nelson Pinot Noir 2018 $27 Lightly coloured but bright and showing slighty dusty, dried herb notes on the nose which merge with cola and black tea as they lean into the palate. The acidity is upfront and fresh yet the finish has a meaty, savoury character to it. Lightly styled and suited to short … Read More
Archives
Rock Ferry Trig Hill Vineyard Central Otago Tempranillo 2016
Rock Ferry Trig Hill Vineyard Central Otago Tempranillo 2016 $45 Not only is this tempranillo from Central Otago (as unlikely as that sounds), it’s also organic AND darn excellent. The aromatics sing of bay leaf, drying flax, leather and coffee, prune and saucy, scorched toast, and all those delicious things osmose through onto the palate. … Read More
Rockburn Eight Barrels Gibbston Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019
Rockburn Eight Barrels Gibbston Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 $96 Grown in soils known as ‘Pigburn shallow fine sandy loam’, the best eight barrels of pinot noir harvested from Rockburn’s Gibbston vineyard, were set aside, to live their best life, to be the best they could be, to live their own truth and to … Read More
Rockburn Eleven Barrels Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019
Rockburn Eleven Barrels Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 $96 Just eleven barrels of the very best pinot noir harvested from Rockburn’s Parkburn vineyard were surrounded with large road cones and strict instructions by winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis “No Touching!”. The result is a wine plump with courage and character, deep cherry notes, a hint of … Read More
Main Divide Waipara Pinot Noir 2018
Main Divide Waipara Pinot Noir 2018 $24 I’m going to make a call right now and suggest this is one of THE BEST VALUE pinot noirs available in the country right now. Incredibly plush, plucky and packed solid with cherry, raspberry, rhubarb flavours, buckets of spice, tantalising tannins, sneaky black tea layers and fabulous length … Read More
Tiki Estate Waipara Pinot Noir 2019
Tiki Estate Waipara Pinot Noir 2019 ($23.99) Paired in Dish Magazine Issue 93 with Kiwi lamb burgers I think it’s the instant aromatic hit of roasting pan juices, wild cherry and rhubarb which makes the Tiki Estate Waipara Pinot Noir 2019 ($23.99) the absolute ducks nuts with these burgers. Spice-centric and soused with redcurrant and … Read More
Churton Natural State Marlborough Pinot Noir 2019
Churton Natural State Marlborough Pinot Noir 2019 $27 Certified organic and biodynamically-grown, this pinot noir is a lightly-styled, floral-forward and fruit saturated pinot noir that’s heaving with bright raspberry and strawberry and lashings of dried herb notes. Only in oak for three months, it’s a fresh, lush, aromatic example with smooth, fabulously feral complexity on … Read More
Greystone Thomas Brothers’ Waipara Valley Pinot Noir 2018
Greystone Thomas Brothers’ Waipara Valley Pinot Noir 2018 $95 This signature pinot noir, crafted by the multi-award-winning winemaker Dom Maxwell, comes from the highest elevation site on their limestone layered property. Hand-picked, hand-sorted and with a proportion of whole bunches in the wild ferment, it’s a wild and woolly, deliciously herbal and smoke-edged wine. That … Read More
Hunting Lodge Tennessee Red Hawke’s Bay Merlot Malbec 2019
Hunting Lodge Project X Tennessee Red Hawke’s Bay Merlot Malbec 2019 $36 Well yippee ki yay, if it isn’t the deepest, darkest, inkiest red to hit my stirrups in ages. The Project X is big, bold and muscular in all the right places, supersized into the realms of smoke and vanilla from being aged in … Read More
Kalleske Parallax Barossa Valley Grenache 2018
Kalleske Parallax Barossa Valley Grenache 2018 $39 approx I’m told that Kalleske (who are certified organic and biodynamic) pick the fruit for the Parallax around 2 to 3 weeks earlier than they normally would for fruit for their other wines. They then ferment the juice on its stalks and give it a brief maturation in … Read More