First is always a big claim to make but in the case of the relatively unknown Marlborough wines from Auntsfield, it's true. The brand is family owned company and the inspiration comes firmly from the French camp. Burgundy and white Bordeaux are the wines that inspire the Cowley family's wines but there is also an interesting history behind their wines and the vineyard on which their grapes grown. It is the original site of the first grapes and wines ever to be planted and produced in Marlborough.  Auntsfield was originally founded by David Herd in 1873 and wine was produced there by David...

Kevin Judd is as famous for taking evocative photographs of vineyards as he is for making wine from them. He was one of the first to make Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough and is famous for his role in the early days at the iconic Cloudy Bay Winery, where he remained for over two decades. He now owns the Greywacke wine brand, which he began in 2009 with his Wild Sauvignon. All of his wines are 100% barrel fermented, 100% with wild yeasts, about two thirds of the wine goes through malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity and the wines then spend about...

Which grape and wine is most important as a trademark style for Hawke’s Bay as a wine region? There are 4771 hectares of producing vineyard land in Hawke's Bay, as of 2019 in the latest statistics from NZ Winegrowers, which pales in comparison to Marlborough with its 26,850 hectares. And yet the Bay remains firmly in place as the second largest wine region in this country. It almost goes without saying that Sauvignon Blanc remains an incredibly important variety for the region, as it is in every New Zealand wine region but while Sauvignon is about neck in neck numerically with Chardonnay...

When Sue and Greg White gave up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht, they could barely have imagined that it might lead to a life of winemaking in Marlborough, but that's exactly what happened. As romantic as their story has been, it's also been a lot of sheer hard work, which is why their winery has become one of the most successful in Marlborough today. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery. Their new winemaker is Peter Jackson, who...

 If you've set foot in store in the last week, you may have noticed a striking black and white wine display from our Winery of the Month, The Boneline, which has a long history, despite being a relatively new brand, launched in 2014.  When the Boneline wines came to market in 2014, they looked completely brand spanking new, but in fact they had been around for 25 years, albeit under a different name - the new brand replaced Waipara West as a local brand in New Zealand.  "Not many people in New Zealand knew about Waipara West at that point because it was mainly...