Gisborne's greatest Chenin Blanc vineyard  A love of Chenin Blanc led winemakers James and Annie Millton to create their top white wine from a steep, north west facing hillside and they called this land the Clos de Ste Anne vineyard. The inspiration for the name comes from the French word clos, which loosely translates as a walled area and is used by winemakers to refer to a special site. In this case, the Clos is home to four distinct areas on the hillside. They are called The Crucible Syrah, Naboth's Vineyard, Les Arbres and La Bas. The best known wines from...

If Clos de Ste Anne sounds more like a French wine name than a Kiwi one, that's because these wines are inspired by their great French counterparts. Meet Millton Vineyard's top tier wines. There are four in the range and all are named after their vineyard sites with the overarching brand of Clos de Ste Anne. The word clos loosely translates as walled and in traditional winemaking regions of France and refers to reverred vineyards that have been fenced off to clearly indicate their boundaries. Only in most cases, the fence tends to be a beautiful stone wall that could be...

When it comes to majesty, South Africa's awe inspiring landscape has it in spades. The flora and fauna boldly imprint their beauty on the brain while the rocky mountains rising out of the earth and along the coastline take the breath away.  This country may have lived under the dark shadow of formal apartheid for most of last century, but it is now rising in stature when it comes to wine and,  this August, we are championing South Africa as our winery of the month.  Chenin Blanc is the queen of the country's vineyard area and it accounts for 18% of the country's total...

It may not be the easiest grape variety in the world to pronounce but anything that Assyrtiko (pronounced As-er-teek-o) lacks in ease of pronunciation, it more than makes up for with its powerful punch of freshness, weight and complexity.  if you love Chablis, great weighty Chardonnays or full bodied white wines, then Assyrtiko is the next big white grape for you. And there are more reasons to enjoy it now than ever before, not least because it is gaining a little ground in the vineyards of our nearest winemaking neighbours, Australia.   The most famous Australian Assyrtiko comes from Jim Barry Wines,...

The shortest day of the year has been and gone and, with it, the promise of new wines looms. And so does summer. So, what will the 2023 vintage bring to wine drinkers from what can only be described as a challenging year? The good news is that vintage 2023 was positive for most winemakers in this country's largest wine region, Marlborough, even if, on the other hand, unprecedented wet weather made for a devastating difficult vintage for many North Island regions.  From the head of NZ Winegrowers  “Regions across the North Island were hit hard by the unprecedented wet weather...