White haven Pinot Gris is a versatile dry style with flavours of fresh nashi pears and crisp red apples, a medium body and textural finish. It's a great wine for everyday drinking with or without food, a lovely aperitif style to enjoy at lunch and early evening.

Whitehaven Wines began life in 1994 as a romantic business for a couple of corporate escapees, Sue and Greg White, who had given up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht. When sailing around the country, they took shelter in the Marlborough Sounds from Pacific storms and fell in love with the region. An easy thing to do when harbouring in the spectacularly pristine waters of the Sounds. They decided to settle there on terra firma once more and try their hands at wine production, hiring a winemaker and beginning a business which has now been around for 26 years. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery.

Their winemaker is Peter Jackson.

Exceptional half bottle of deliciousness from an unlikely corner of the country, Matakana, which is one of the smallest wine regions in New Zealand and situated north of Auckland. This wine is made by Toby Gillman, who fell in love with the idea of making wine after he spent his first student allowance on a bottle of Matakana red. 

He and his father John volunteered to work at the iconic Providence vineyard in Matakana on weekends, and later set up their own vineyard, which is home to the Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec grapes that go into this little half bottle of deliciousness. 

We really enjoyed tasting the concentrated cassis and blackcurrant flavours in this six year old red, which is an outstanding wine to drink now, and has further potential for aging. Its weight, richness of flavour and big but smooth tannins all show impeccable balance for a high quality red based on a classic Bordeaux right bank style.

100% hand-picked Chardonnay, crushed and pressed into old Burgundian French oak barrels for wild yeast fermentation until dry. The wine was matured in barrel for 14-16 months during which time it underwent full malolactic fermentation.

This is a complex Chardonnay with multiple layers of ripe fruit and richness, along with a chalky minerality on the nose. The palate combines fruit weight and balanced acidity with a tight yet generous structure. This is followed by a long lingering pithy citrus finish with and hints of savouriness.

This is a deep-maroon red wine. The nose is refreshing and complex with herb and spice coupled with savoury earthy notes of mushroom, dark chocolate and toasted wood. The palate is concentrated in flavour but well resolved in structure with an excellent silky texture. Dark berry and herb and licorice notes on the palate meet cedar and light smoke, with gentle mouth-coating tannins.

Full bodied French Viognier from the south, which is affordable and beautifully well balanced, thanks to its peachy aromas and zingy dry palate structure. This wine highlights Viognier at its best; dry and rich but also with complex nutty notes, wich is no mean feat at this price. This wine is made with grapes grown in three French wine regions; on the Massif Central, the Mediterranean and the French Alps. This combination provides balance to the fleshy, full bodied appeal of peachy Viognier. This wine was aged for six months on lees in concrete tanks. 

It is also refreshingly varietally labelled.

A lovely addition to Viognier lover's wine glasses in New Zealand.

Mendel Winery embodies the union of Roberto de la Mota - one of Argentina’s most respected and experienced winemakers - with an established Argentine family. Together they are dedicated to producing wines of unquestionable superior quality expressing the quality and character of their very old Malbec vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.

Parker's Wine Advocate, Luis Guttierrez (2017 vintage)

"The approachable, creamy and expressive 2017 Lunta Malbec has notes of ripe berries and a touch of beeswax, pollen and honey that I find in many Mediterranean wines. This comes from the classical zone of Mendoza, and in 2017, the grapes achieved good ripeness; it's juicy and with a soft palate. Some 60% of the volume matured in barrique because the year delivered wines with more structure and winemaker Roberto de la Mota thought it needed a little bit more of élevage. A textbook example of a classical Malbec from Mendoza. 85,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2019."

Vinous, Stephen Tanzer (2017 vintage)

"Bright ruby-red. Somewhat inky scents and flavors of black and red fruits and licorice pastille, lifted by herbs. Slightly bound-up but there's excellent dark fruit intensity here, not to mention good density and a fine-grained texture for the price. Roberta de la Mota makes this wine from very old vines (roughly 90 years) in riverbed alluvial soils at the base of the Lunlunta foothills behind his winery in Mayor Drummond."

Premium Cava made from carefully selected organic Xarel·lo, Macabeu, Parellada, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, which are then worked manually to achieve the best result.

In the glass this is a lively and bright cava with balanced aromas of white fruit, citrus and green almonds. 

The Tempranillo (78%) comes from 30-year-old vines in our Cuesta (Cenicero) and Montecillo (Fuenmayor) vineyards. The Garnacha (22%) comes from La Pedriza vineyard in Tudelilla (Rioja Oriental). This 70 hectare property offers unbeatable conditions for growing this variety. Its nutrient-poor soil, covered with boulders, results in great varietal typicity, rich in aromas, with a pleasant, elegant structure. We started picking these plots in mid-October. 

The grapes were harvested manually and transported to the winery in refrigerated vehicles. Alcoholic fermentation took place spontaneously. Malolactic fermentation concluded at the end of the year. In March 2013, the selected wines were put in barrels to start ageing separately: the Tempranillo for 36 months with six manual rackings, in American oak barrels averaging 4 years in age and the Garnacha for 30 months with five manual rackings, in barrels with two and three wines. The final blend was bottled in March 2016.

Outstandingly bright, lively and intense garnet red, with an incipient cherry red rim. The first nose is very intense, with spicy, balsamic and ripe fruit notes. After swirling, aromas of black pepper, sweet liquorice, nutmeg, coffee, vanilla and cinnamon make their appearance. Mouth full of flavours, with a pleasant acidity and balance, and very polished tannins that enhance the harmonious structure. Complex and elegant aftertaste with spicy and balsamic hints. 

To enjoy right now, but with a long life ahead.

Chenin Blanc is the most popular grape in South Africa and it classically over delivers with great freshness and depth of flavour. Its naturally high acidity is softened in this wine with a rounded textural mouthfeel, citrus characters marrying harmoniously with ripe pears and stony, complex aromas that add interest.

Mullineux was established in 2007, when Chris and Andrea Mullineux settled in the Swartland wine region, 60 kilometers north of Cape Town. Within a very short time the winery established itself as one of South Africa?s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and on the international front. 

By 2020 the winery had received 30 five star ratings from Platter?s South African Wine Guide.

Timorasso is one of the great white grapes of northern Italy and it nearly died out following phylloxera in the late 1800s, until it was revived in the small Colli Tortonesi DOC of Piedmonte.

Timorasso produces wine that is structured and elegant and capable of aging for a surprisingly long time in bottle. On the nose the wine shows notes of white peach, honey, acacia, hawthorn blossom, and chamomile, developing smoky and mineral notes with age. 

This is a great dry white that gets better with age and is also hugely complex right now. 

Muscat of Alexandria grapes grown on the sandy volcanic soils of the island of Sicily yield a this delicate, yet sweet wine, with delightful notes of yellow peaches, melon and citrus fruits.

Cantine Pellegrino

Cantine Pellegrino is one of Sicily’s most important and prosperous wineries. Today they are one of very few families who can trace their lineage back to the original 19th Century founders of the Marsala trade.

Members of the Pellegrino family married into the Alagna, Renda, Tumbarello & Bellina families, members of which now collectively manage the company. 

In 1880 Paolo Pellegrino, local notary and vine grower, founded his winery in the heart of the city of Marsala on the West coast of Sicily. With the help of his son Carlo, he built the company up from nothing into one of Sicily’s leading Marsala producers. After the death of his father, Carlo took the reigns of the company, assisted by his wife Josephine Despagne, daughter of a famous Sauternes oenologist Oscar Pierre Despagne. 

Today the company has 150 hectares of vineyards, and three wineries. Pellegrino have been instrumental in putting Sicily on the winemaking map, with the family’s Marsala, fine wine and sweet Pantelleria wine, all exported around the world.

This is a bright purple-red Syrah. On the nose, aromas develop with finesse and complexity with notes of blackberry jam, liquorice, a hint of toast and spice. The palate is full and generous with notes of ripe fruit and a hint of smokiness. Tannins are dense and intense, but with great finesse, giving the wine excellent structure and a long finish. 

Decant if drunk immediately. It may be cellared for 10 to 15 years.

Domaine de Beaurenard is family owned and operated (over seven generations) and is one of the leading estates of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The Coulon brothers, Daniel and Frederic, have taken over from Paul and Regine, and craft some of the most fruity, charming and supple wines of the whole Appellation. With the modernization of the cellars in the late 80s, the quality of the wines has gone from excellent to often exceptional - and the vineyards are now organic and biodynamic.

All 13 of the permitted grape varieties are used here including some vines so old they’re not sure of the variety. Terrific stuff.

“Coteaux du Layon vineyards are situated on hillsides rolling along the Layon, a small stream joining the Loire near Angers. The region has a special climate; mild with a long Autumn ripening season giving very ripe Chenin Blanc grapes which are often affected by botrytis. This produces sweet wines of complexity, intensity, acidity and remarkable longevity.” – Winemaker’s notes.

This sweet wine offers complex honeyed flavours and excellent minerality.