Great Garnacha from the town of Cadalso de los Vidrios in the Sierra de Gredos, which is hot property for new wave Garnachas right now. 

This medium bodied wine has big bold fruit flavours balanced by high acidity developed in the high-altitude vineyards and firm tannins that contribute to its long finish. 

The wine is a light, delicate and perfumed expression of Garnacha with firm tannins surrounding a core of lively fruit and a long finish; great value for money. 

The 2020 Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco is another fantastic starting point wine from one of Piemonte's top producers, the family owned company, Vietti.

In this vintage, the Perbacco is especially good quality with flavours of dried cherry, herbs, mint, crushed flowers, anise and orange peel grace this striking, alluring Nebbiolo. There is enormous depth in this wine and, as with many earlier vintages, the Perbacco overdelivers, big time. 

What the critics say

"Quite frankly, the 2020 Perbacco is more satisfying than many Barbarescos and Barolos I tasted this year. Drink 2022-2030"

92/100 Vinous, Antonio Galloni

Marlborough is white wine country and while it's mostly all about Sauvignon and Chardonnay, this spectacular new dry-ish Riesling is full of deliciously zingy flavours of lemon zest, fresh apples and ripe peach, coupled with an intensely lingering, flavoursome finish.

This wine is intensely aromatic on the palate and has lingering flavours with a crisp dry finish.

The north facing Ashmore Vineyard receives all day sun and that, coupled with cool Marlborough nights, makes for ideal cool climate growing conditions for the Riesling grapes that are grown on the free draining, deep alluvial silt, overlying clay sub soils. Ashmore Vineyard was planted in 1997 with conversion to organics beginning in 2009 and full certification from Bio-Gro in 2012.

Beautiful by name and beautiful by nature. This new Riesling puts North Canterbury's best white wine foot forward with its candied lemon, concentrated mandarin and ripe grapefruit aromas,. It's a light bodied, powerful white with rich citrus flavours and a super long finish. This wine's intensely aromatic mid palate ends on a crisp refreshing note.

It contains 21 grams residual sugar (medium dry style) but finishes on a dry note.

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.

Commercial description

Terroir in a glass – very site specific, sophisticated and unique. On the nose, blackberries, spice, violets and wild herb aromatics. Medium bodied with an interesting mix of red fruits and savoury notes. A complex, high energy wine, perfect to enjoy today or to patiently cellar.

Our flagship Pinot Noir, sourced primarily from our southern block. It carries the name of Surveyor – John Turnbull Thomson linking both the land and its fruits to the vineyard owners, PM and David Hall-Jones family heritage.

35% whole bunch and 18% new oak.

Akitu A1 has all the bells and whistles of great Pinot Noir with seductive red floral and fruity aromas leading into a full bodied, silky and structured wine with 40% whole bunch fermentation and five different clones of Pinot Noir adding complexity. The dominant clone in the blend is Abel (a clone is a variation of a grape variety), which lends this Pinot its impressive structure and a silky mouthfeel. It goes without saying that it takes a warm year and ripe grapes to include a high proportion of whole bunches in the fermentation tank, stalks and all. This wine benefits from its high portion of whole bunches and is possibly the best A1 from Akitu yet. A modest 20% new French oak was used to mature the wine. This lends it weight, smoothness and a soft mouthfeel while allowing the fruit to remain in second place after the charry complexity.

The home of Akitu 

Andrew Donaldson planted his vineyard with 100% Pinot Noir in 2002 and has since developed three distinctive styles of wine from this great red grape variety. Two reds (Akitu A 1 and Akitu A2) lead the production while a Pinot Blanc is now part of the high quality stable of wines from this producer. 

Donaldson employs winemaker P J Charteris to make the wines. 

At Mt Barker, in New Zealand's South Island, in a high glacial valley of sunshine and rain shadow on the edge of the earth, each season leave its own vivid imprint on our vintage.  Extreme temperature variations, alpine air, altitude, adversity... all the wild elements of this exhilarating land combine in a Pinot Noir of great quality from the world's southernmost wine region.

Dry, dark and full bodied fleshy black plum flavours with a beautiful silky textured mouthfeel. This single vineyard Pinot Noir is made from  hand picked grapes grown on the Wrekin Vineyard in the Southern Valleys, Marlborough. Most of the grapes were destemmed with a small portion of 15% whole bunches to add structure and weight to the wine, which was fermented warm (up to 31 degrees Celcius) then transferred to French oak, 27% new for 10 months of ageing. This wine has hints of smoky flavour with a rich, dense earthy aroma leading into beautiful dark fruit flavours of plums and black cherries.

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.

'Deep ruby hue with inviting savoury, fruit and floral aromas including Portobello mushroom, dark Ghana chocolate, cedar, blackberry, *Bing cherry and lilac flower. The palate is also complex with layers of dark fruit, spice, and umami that are woven together by a fresh vein of acidity. The texture is vibrant and delectable with fine, firm tannins that build in the mouth giving a long, memorable finish. Playful with understated power, this quintessential Bendigo Pinot has a tangy freshness that comes from grapes grown at elevation. Intriguing and approachable in its youth, this wine should develop beautifully for 15+ years. (*Bing cherry originated in the Pacific Northwest in Milwaukie, Oregon, the town where I was raised.  This wine evokes many happy memories for me and I wish the same for you). ' 

Jen Parr - September 2023

The four Valli Pinot Noirs

The four sub regions that winemaker Grant Taylor makes Pinot Noir from each year encompass widely varying landscapes, soil types and climates from the maritime influenced weather in the Waitaki Valley Vineyard on the ironically named Grant's Road; a site that Grant Taylor owns, through to the semi continental climates of Gibbston, Bannockburn and Bendigo. 

Bendigo

Valli Bendigo Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on the Chinaman's Terrace Vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago. This elevated vineyard was planted in 2005 between 314 metres and 374 metres above sea level with five different Pinot Noir clones; Abel, 115, UCD5, 667 and 777. The soils are shallow sandy loams with a high clay content and also include a small lower section with gravel soils.  Bendigo has a semi continental, arid climate. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Bannockburn

Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Hall Vineyard, which was planted in 2000 in Bannockburn at 350 metres above sea level. This area has a semi continental climate. It is planted with six different clones of Pinot Noir; namely, 777, 115, 10/5, UCD5, 113 and 13. The soils here are wind blown loess over schist bedrock. They are deep, moderately sandy and free draining. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Gibbston Valley

Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Gibbston Highway, which were planted between 1999 and 2000 at between 343 and 351 metres above sea level. The Pinot Noir clones on this site are 777, 115, UCD5 and 114. Soils are alluvial loess which ranges from 0.5 to 1 metre deep over firm river gravels.

Rainfall is lower here than in Bannockburn and Bendigo. The climate is considered semi continental. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Waitaki Valley

Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on Grant's Road in the Waitaki Valley, a maritime influenced climate planted between 2004 and 2005 at 200 metres above sea level on limestone based soils. River gravels also make up some of the soil type here and vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

This is one of New Zealand’s best bubbles and comes from Pinot Central; also known as Central Otago, a region that is characterised by having 80% of its vineyards planted in Pinot Noir. 

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.

VINEYARDS Parcels of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were hand-picked from selected sites on the  gravel soils of the old Ngaruroro River, and old vine Merlot from the Bridge Pa region.  Bridge Pa Triangle soils feature fine silt loam over red metal gravels, while the gravel sites protected by Roys Hill, feature gravel over fine silt. These sites are free draining and low in fertility, resulting in struggling vines producing fruit of great concentration. Low yielding vines, open canopy management, managed irrigation and Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand farmed were common to all sites. Bridge Pa Merlot delivers ripe, dark plums which compliments the spicy brighter fruits from the gravels. Cabernet thrives on gravel sites and contributes structure, acidity and fragrant berry fruit notes. 

WINEMAKING Batches of hand harvested fruit was chilled overnight before processing the following day. Chilled bunches were hand sorted and de-stemmed, and whole berries were transferred to open fermenters with some foot stomping. Whole bunches were also incorporated in some of the Merlot fermenters. The berries were cold soaked before fermentation, with pumping over twice per day then pressed to barriques at the  end of fermentation. The Merlot and Cabernet matured for 21 months in new and  seasoned French oak barriques. Blended in December 2019 and bottled in January  2020, the final blend is approximately 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

SENSORY An elegant Merlot Cabernet blend which exhibits lifted aromatics of fragrant  berry fruits, sweet French oak, and underlying lavender and thyme. Complex and  textural, seamless tannins harmoniously support red and black fruits, earthiness,  and spice. Tautly poised to develop beautifully with bottle age.

Mission Estate Jewelstone Chardonnay is a pale straw coloured wine with complex aromatics of sweet stone fruit, marzipan and struck flint notes. The palate is full and fruit forward with a fine structure and a long clean finish.

Pure Eden is a single site wine, made from an Eden Valley vineyard planted by Charles Angas in the 1890s. Later owned by the Shiltons 1911 -1926; Meakins 1926-1929; Roeslers 1929-1961; Andretzkes 1961-2011 and now the Lindner family. This wine is a reward of these guardians’ efforts for more than one hundred years.

An alluring bouquet of red and blue fruits leap from the glass with savoury herbs and hints of black olive, cedar, earthiness and white pepper. A medium to full-bodied wine with juicy Satsuma plum and raspberry fruits with plenty of velvety tannins adding structure and texture to the wine. Sweet and briary spices balance the juicy fruit with a subtle cedar note carrying through to the finish.

-100% Shiraz from Flaxman Valley, Eden Valley,
-24 months in 47% new French oak and 53% seasoned French oak

Savoury, structured and classically beautiful Bordeaux which drinks beautifully with complex black olive, dried herb and fragrant dark fruit flavours now; made from 48% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Cabernet Franc. 

Chateau Magnol has 31 hectares of grapes in the Haut-Médoc, west of the city of Bordeaux and has gravel as well as sandy soils in its vineyards. It has gained the classification of Cru Bourgeois, which this commandingly impressive wine more than lives up to.