One of the great pink champagnes, combining toasted red fruit flavours and the freshness of a great, complex wine with long lees ageing. Delicious. 

Champagne Laurent-Perrier was founded in 1812 by Andre Michel Pierlot and took the name Laurent-Perrier when Mathilde Emilie Perrier, the widow of Eugene Laurent, combined the two family names after she decided to expand the business.

Eugenie Hortense Laurent, her daughter, inherited the House in 1925 and sold it to Marie-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt in 1939.

Laurent-Perrier Brut NV is enjoyed for its creamy softness which comes from Chardonnay, the dominant grape in this elegant sparkling wine.

The Laurent-Perrier Champagne house was founded in 1812 and is the main company of the Laurent-Perrier Group, whose other flagship brands include the houses of Salon, De Castellane and Delamotte. Laurent-Perrier Group also acquired Chateau Malakoff in 2004.

If dark and broody with loads of black cherry and dried herb aromas sounds like a wine you'd love to drink, buy this beautiful Pinot Noir from the Inlet Vineyard in Bannockburn, Central Otago. 

This 5.25 hectare site is situated 225 to 245 metres above sea level where the grapes' growing season is extended thanks to the elevation, which provides cool nights as a foil to the hot days here. 

Flavours of structured dark fruit combine with firm tannins and a long life ahead.

The wine was aged in French oak and bottled unfined.

A full bodied, savoury Pinot Noir with appealing layers of red fruit flavours, which  drinks well now and can age superbly for the next four to five years. This is smooth, savoury and complex in flavour with layers of red fruit, tangy freshness from bold acidity that is held in balance by weight and texture. 

Volnay 2020 from Chantal Lescure is a wine that embodies the grace and subtlety of Volnay. With its balance of fresh fruit, floral notes, and light spice, it’s perfect for those seeking a wine that combines elegance with approachability. A delightful choice now, but with the potential to evolve beautifully over time.

Grape 100% Pinot Noir

Food match lighter meats such as roast chicken, duck, or pork, particularly with sauces that feature fruits or herbs.

Commanding Pinot Noir from the oldest winery in Italy, dating back nearly 1000 years and situated high in the foothills of the Sudtyrol in north east Italy. This structured and statuesque Pinot Noir drinks beautifully now with its velvet smooth texture and great depths of flavour with bright bold red fruit and macerated cherries, expressing Pinot Noir at its best from the highest altitude vineyard in Europe, in the very north of Italy. This winery has been making wine since 1142.

The Abbazia di Novacella winery is one of the oldest wineries in operation in the world and has been making wine for nearly 1000 years from terraced vineyards at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level in the steep hills of the Tyrol. This wine is one of our most impressive Pinot Noirs in store; known correctly as Pinot Nero.

"Tasted at the Mouton-Rothschild vertical in London, the 2010 Mouton-Rothschild is a modern-day benchmark for the First Growth and here, side-by-side with the 2009, it certainly has its nose in front. It is in possession of quite breathtaking delineation and precision, a crystalline bouquet with black fruit laced with minerals, potent pencil shaving notes, a touch of cold slate. It is totally entrancing. The palate has beguiling symmetry, but for me what really distinguishes this Mouton is its effortlessness. Like watching Usain Bolt in his prime sprinting to another world record, this wine is almost self-effacing in terms of its brilliance. Will Philippe Dhalluin ever better this Mouton-Rothschild? Keep it in the cellar for 15 years, if you know what's good for you." Tasted May 2016.

Rating 99

Black Estate - This Riesling is grown on the rolling slopes of our Damsteep Vineyard.  The site's dense clay and mineral limestone provide weight, texture and salivating freshness.  A true character.

This special library release is a one off which we have been lucky enough to secure a small amount of while featuring Palliser Estate as our winery of the month. This is the greatest dry aromatic white of the Palliser stable. It's fleshy, flavoursome and beautifully peachy buoyed up by the balance of great lime zest and a lingering citrusy finish. 

Dry Riesling is Palliser Estate's unsung hero white wine and this seven year old dry version is a stellar example. 

It's ripe and fleshy with beautiful balance provided by the citrusy acidity which adds length to this lovely wine. 

The grapes are grown on the organically certified Om Santi Vineyard and the Palliser Estate Vineyard.

The name Mon Cheval is in homage to the owner's champion racehorse, Under Cover Lover, whose winning ways helped the dream of making wine possible. The 2.2 hectare vineyard is found at the entrance to Weka Pass in North Canterbury, and is planted with Pinot Noir and only a small amount of Riesling.

Winemaker's notes:

Single clone Mariafield Pinot Noir. 

Organically grown on clay soils, Orchis 2024 captures a warm, dry harvest, delivering generous body and ripe, expressive fruit. Wild-fermented in open tanks with 30% whole clusters and matured for nine months in a mixture of barriques and puncheon, this Pinot Noir speaks of sunwarmed currants, wild pomegranate, and worn leather.

On the palate, lush Doris plum unfolds alongside a thread of sage and fresh ground pepper. Supple yet precise, the wine’s bright natural acidity and light, crunchy tannins carry into a savoury, lingering finish.

50/50 Chardonnay and Riesling blend from the dry-farmed, organic Weka vineyard nesled between the sea and Upper Moutere. The 2024 season was warmer and drier than we usually experience in the Nelson Tasman. This intensity gave the grapes thicker skins and a bit more physiological ripeness. This wine is still unmistakably ‘Pollen’ our salty white blend. It’s textural and driven by bright acidity but
this vintage shows a slightly riper expression: waxy lemon phenolics, tropical lift, and stone fruit through the mid-palate,finishing with that signature saline complexity. Wild fermented and aged in large format neutral oak for a year followed by 6 months in bottle prior to release, unfined and unfiltered.

THE DRINKING
With hand-picked Chardonnay grapes in late summer, this Blanc de Blancs is a rustic and unfussy wine with a foamy mousse and biscuit and freshly baked bread aromas. It’s refreshing, fruity and perky on the palate with layers of pear, cherry and orange zest. To be enjoyed during the summer months, well chilled to quell that dissolved CO2. Unfiltered and unfined, this is a charming lo-fi natural wine.

THE GROWING
We will always remember 2021 as the perfect vintage for our dry farmed vines; as though I had direct dial to Hughie the weather god, we were blessed with decent dollops of rain at the optimum times during the growing season, much appreciated as our vines were recovering from the drought conditions of 2020. The one brix a week rule book was thrown out the window in 2021 and we had to be on our toes, ready to pick at a moment's notice, as the brix (sugar levels) were rising on a daily basis.

THE MAKING
Hand-picked single clone 95 Chardonnay grapes from our 'Puriri' block were whole bunch pressed and the juice put into a stainless-steel tank where it was cold settled for 24 hours then racked into its fermentation tank. No yeast or additions were made, apart from some organic yeast nutrient, to help to complete the wild ferment. The decision when to bottle is always a challenging one, too much unfermented sugars and you have a too fizzy bottle rocket in your hands, too little sugars and you have all sausage without the sizzle. Much like the picking decision, I had to base my bottling decision on experience, taste and sugar levels. The ferment tank was chilled down to 2 degrees C for 48 hours then lifted onto my trailer, driven back to our vineyard and gravity bottled at Zeelandt Brewery by the same crew who picked the grapes.

TECHNICAL NOTES
PICKING DATE: 4 March 2021
pH: 3.38
ACIDITY: 5.47
RS: 1.34
BOTTLING: 7 April 2021
F(SO2): 8.8T
(SO2): 24