Dr John Forrest is a Riesling lover and that shines through in this deliciously honeyed lime zest and green apple tasting sweet wine. This luscious sweetie was made entirely from Riesling grapes which were late harvested and heavily botrytis effected. Botrytis is a form of rot, often known as 'noble rot' because it can make grapes and wines taste utterly succulent and delicious. It shrivels the grapes, concentrating the flavours of the juicy inside, creating less of it for winemaking but more intense flavours. Riesling works well as a grape for this purpose because it has naturally high acidity, which balances the flavours and sweetness of the wine. 

Petit Manseng is a rarely known, refreshing white grape grown in a small appellation in the south of France where it makes outstanding wines such as this fresh, bright and complex sweet white wine. This is one of our absolute faves here at Regional and a wine we admire greatly from one of the smallest wineries in New Zealand's biggest wine region, Marlborough. 

Churton founder and winemaker Sam Weaver cut his teeth on the classic wines of the world while working in fine wine retail in the United Kingdom. His background is in microbiology and he was raised on a farm, so when he and his wife Mandy founded Churton Estate, it combined all of his passions. The couple and their adult sons, have created one of this country's most high quality small wineries, which lives up to the dream of creating 100% estate grown grapes, 100% certified organic production and 100% bottled on site, nearly all of the wines without fining or filtration. All grapes are hand picked and natural yeasts ferment the majority of Churton wines. These incremental qualitative decisions impact at every step of their winemaking provides exceptional quality grapes which in turn express themselves in outstanding wines.

Hand harvested bunches of grapes with at least 30% noble botrytis were fermented slowly at cool temperatures in stainless steel to retain the bold, richly deep fruit characters and varietal purity of late harvest Riesling. Aromas span the range of limes, mandarins, peaches, cantaloupe melons and comb honey, with a hint of root ginger. While mouth filling and concentrated, it has a lively core of crisp acidity and minerality that provides a perfect foil to its lusciousness and draws out the lingering aftertaste. With careful cellaring this wine should develop extra complexity and depth over the next decade and live well beyond.

Daniel le Brun is the first person to make traditional method sparkling wine (that's code for made the same way as champagne) in New Zealand. He has since sold his own brand name and created another sparkling wine company. 

This wine remains one of New Zealand's most loved and well known bubbles from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes grown in Marlborough. It has extended lees aging time to gain its fresh bakery flavours and long finish. A well known wine that delivers on body, dryness, depth of flavour - and all at such a modest price. No wonder it's a fave for so many New Zealanders.

One of New Zealand’s best bubbles and one of its most consistent, complex handmade wines; it's typically a 70/30 blend of toasty flavours from Pinot Noir with crisp citrus creamy ones from Chardonnay. It comes from one of the country's oldest producers of traditional method sparkling wine - Rudi Bauer in Central Otago, who pioneered Quartz Reef Brut NV in the early days of Otago as a wine region.

Quartz Reef Brut NV began life when winemaker Rudi Bauer teamed up with a visiting French winemaker Clothilde Chauvet (daughter of champagne maker Marc Chauvet). Together they pioneered this high quality, traditional method sparkling wine, using mostly Pinot Noir (now 72% of the blend) with the balance being Chardonnay. The wine is typically aged for two years on lees in bottle following its second fermentation - longer than most champagnes. No wonder it massively over delivers on both taste and price. This is a stunning sparkling wine. Ignore at your peril.

MiruMiru translates to sparkling in Maori and has been trademarked as the name of Jane Hunter's bubblies. Hunter is a fan of pink bubbly and her winemaking team produce this one mostly from Pinot Noir as 55% of the blend with the balance being 42% Chardonnay with a 3% touch of Pinot Meunier. This trio is the classic combination used in the Champagne region where wines must be aged for at least 18 months prior to release on the market. That?s the exact timeframe that Hunter?s winemaking team decided to age this lively, dry pink bubbles for too. It contains 6.4 grams of residual sugar per litre and is a deliciously full bodied expression of sparkling Pinot with Chardonnay adding crispness and balance. 

Member of Methode Marlborough 

Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes are gently pressed into production to make this dry, medium bodied bubbly from Marlborough, which was fermented with wild yeasts and aged for 18 months in bottle on lees; the decomposing yeast cells following fermentation in the bottle. It contains 8.8 grams of residual sugar per litre and alcohol of 12.5% ABV, giving it a medium body and lovely balanced flavours. It’s made by Allan Scott and his winemaking team.

Member of Methode Marlborough.

A creamy, full bodied, deliciously complex bubbly made from a blend of two of the classic grapes used to make Champagne - Pinot Noir makes up 58% of this wine and the grapes were lightly pressed so that no colour is extracted from the Pinnacles Vineyard and 42% Chardonnay from the Om Santi Vineyard, fermented to 12.5% ABV. 

This big, creamy, full bodied sparkling wine made in the traditional method - the same way as champagne. The Chardonnay went through malolactic fermentation, which adds  the creamy notes. It was aged for two years on lees in bottle and given six grams of dosage at disgorgement, which makes this wine dry, fresh and long on taste thanks to the cool climate acidity which adds length and zesty drive. 

Gorgeous dry sparkling rose made the same way as champagne by French born, Marlborough based wine pioneer, Daniel le Brun, who marked 40 years of winemaking in New Zealand in 2000. 

Le Brun pioneered methode traditionelle sparkling wines in New Zealand in the early 1980s, releasing his first bubbly in 1985 and marketing it as made the same way as champagne, only at a fraction of the cost. 

This toasty rich, full bodied pink number is made 100% from Pinot Noir grapes which were fermented to 12.5% ABV with 7.5 grams of residual sugar per litre ? almost bone dry and it tastes like it too, with that smidgeon of grapeyness adding beautiful balance. It was aged for 18 months on lees prior to disgorgement. Ongoing disgorgement means fresh wines remain on the market. 

Cloudy Bay Wines first made its name with inimitable Sauvignon Blanc and has since forged a reputation for top quality wines made in a range of styles, of which Pelorus bubbly punches significantly above its weight. It’s made using the same winemaking methods as champagne, which provides this wine with its creamy, rich, flavoursome style, full body and dry finish. It is typically aged on lees for two years before the bubbly is disgorged, corked and labelled. It contains 8 grams of dosage per litre, which makes it taste dry with the balance of fresh acidity in the wine.

It offers stunning value at this price.  

A cracking sparkler from Marlborough's Cloudy Bay. This has more weight and fruit sweetness than the standard Pelorus thanks to a higher percentage Pinot and offers strawberry and biscuit elements on the nose and palate. 

94/100 Bob Campbell
“Reasonably deep copper colour. Full-flavoured wine with hints of biscuit and strawberry. Dry, but not austere, with a rich texture and lengthy finish. Classy sparkler with character.”

In exceptional vintages we occasionally find special pockets of grapes destined for the Basket Press. The resultant wine is the pinnacle of our wine making. Intense purple, red rimmed with a palate of multi -layered fruit, a heady mix of leather, tar, mint cassis and plum held together with fine grained tannins and spicy oak.

Comes in wooden gift box.

Maestro is made in the warmest vintages only in North Canterbury. It is a dense, dark, dry, full bodied blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with a smidgeon of Malbec in for good measure.