Samantha White talks about the challenges and changes of running a cellar door tasting room post Covid-19, while retaining Alert level 2 protocols - and her journey from toddler to wine cellar door manager. The story of Whitehaven Samantha White was a tender young two year old when her parents Greg and Sue White established Whitehaven Winery, named in homage to the calm haven they found whensheltering in the Marlborough Sounds on their family yacht, and for the importance of family.  Fast forward 26 years and Samantha is now the new customer experience manager at Whitehaven’s newly re-opened cellar door post lockdown....

Rediscovering great reds from far flung places... Argentina’s signature grape was introduced to the country’s biggest wine region, Mendoza, by Frenchman Michel Pouget in the mid 1850s, but has since been discovered to have enormous diversity, something the Catena family is spear heading research into. This is resulting in a wider range of Malbec styles for wine lovers to enjoy. The Catena family has arguably done more for the quality and reputation of both Malbec and the Argentinian wine industry than any other company. Its headquarters is in Mendoza at the foot of the majestic Andes Mountains and this is one...

Something is afoot. Ex-red wine cask aged whiskies used to get a lot of flack but suddenly they’re all the rage. Not only that, NZ Pinot Noir seems to have become the wine of choice. Just what is going on? It actually started with a release of Longrow Red back in 2015. This is a limited release whisky that has been made over many years now - and often using an ex-red wine cask of some description to age or finish the whisky. Malbec, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, Australian Shiraz and Cabernet Franc have all made an appearance, but in 2015,...

Queen’s Birthday Weekend marks our first exclusive launch of new vintage Pinot Noirs and Chardonnay from the iconic Te Kairanga Wines in Martinborough - one of New Zealand's smallest and highest quality wine regions. Join Regional Wines enthusiasm for these outstanding wines, from the 2018 vintage, exclusively available in store and online from Friday 29 May... * We have further events and tastings planned too and will be regularly updating customers on these, along with Covid-19 restrictions.  Pictured above: Te Kairanga Frater's Vineyard This month we are privileged to announce the formation of a new annual collaboration with Te Kairanga Wines, one of Martinborough's most...

It’s hard to know where to start when confronted with a long list of fine wines. One tends to feel a bit like a kid in a candy store, albeit very expensive candy. It can also be rather daunting too, akin to somehow becoming a bull in a china shop - you’d better tread carefully otherwise you’ll bring these precious items crashing to the ground around you, or worse still, end up with a load of expensive wine that you shouldn’t have bought. But fear not, buying these wines (if you’re not already a collector) need not be a concern...