Pol Roger Champagne was established in 1849 by a young Frenchman called Pol Roger, who was just 19 years old at the time. The company is now run by the fifth generation and remains in family hands, one of the few big champagne houses to stake such a claim to fame. 

This wine, the Brut Réserve, is the flagship of the house and is a threeway blend of the three primary champagne grape varieties, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, grown on 30 different vineyard sites. It includes 25% reserve wines in the non vintage (NV) blend, which is a relatively high proportion and provides richness and savoury flavours to the bubbly, which retains freshness from the crisp acidity from early harvested grapes in the balancing 75% of the bubbly.

Pinot Noir brings structure, body and power while Pinot Meunier adds body and roundness with the Chardonnay adding aromatic complexity, finesse and freshness. Each of the different grape varieties comes from a different area in the Champagne region. The wine is aged for four years following its secondary fermentation and it is one of the best known and best quality champagnes, thanks to high quality grapes and a long legacy of qualitative production methods. 

Veuve Clicquot is one of the world's biggest selling champagnes and is produced by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey in a range of styles and packaging. 

Veuve is named after the late, great Widow Clicquot, who was left not only a widow aged 27 but also in charge of running a champagne house. Her legacy is to have left both the brand and the region in better condition than she found them, mostly famously by inventing riddling; the turning of the bottle to remove the yeast sediment into its neck, prior to disgorgement. This resulted in higher quality, cleaner, fresher bubbles in both look and taste. Her quest was quality and she is widely credited with having raised it significantly in the Champagne region and in the bottles it produces.

The yellow label non vintage (NV) blend is typically made up of 55% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier.

Vieux Cha?teau des Combes is located in Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, just five kilometres away from the historic village of Saint-Emilion. This is a deep, ruby red wine. Complex aromas of ripe berries and spice lead into a palate rich with flavours of dark red fruits and coffee.

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.

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.

“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.

Falmet Brut NV is a bright and lively Champagne from the Cotes des Bar. This is a Pinot dominant blend (80% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay) with great floral characters on the nose. Juicy acidity and brioche notes on the palate are complemented by a fine, energetic bead.

Macon is the southernmost terroir in the Bourgogne wine region. The warmer Southern climate produces richer, fruitier Chardonnay's in comparison to the wider region. The M?connais white wines are floral and fruity on the nose and rich and well structured, but with good acidity. 

This Chardonnay is made to be drunk young. The nose shows floral aromas and a distinct freshness. On the palate, the wine is vibrant and fruity with balanced acidity. This is an extremely food friendly and versatile wine.

Château Rieussec’s Carmes de Rieussec is a Semillon dominant sweet wine from the Sauternais region of Graves, Bordeaux. The nose is jammy and complex with charming  marmalade notes. The palate is powerful and balanced, with great acidity complimenting notes of pineapple, honey and delicate spice. An excellent desert wine.

This is one of the most sought after, cult Beaujolais and available on allocation only. Earthy, complex and limited - our allocation is 12 bottles only and that's it for 2024. 

Brother and sister, Mathieu and Camille Lapierre, are doing a tremendous job of keeping their fathers’ vision alive. Again, volumes aren’t huge and it’s a juggling act to share the different cuvees around, but these are cracking Beaujolais.

Lovely crisp structure and fleshy mouthfeel from a superb Chablis producer in a wine that reveals white fruit notes such as peach, and has a persistent mineral structure. In the mouth, a stony sensation which is so typical of Chablis makes this a round and pure wine.

Chablis is the northernmost wine region in Burgundy, which produces only Chardonnay. The cooler climate gives these wines crispness, acidity and a flinty minerality.

Domaine Denis Race is a small, family run winery in Chablis. This Chardonnay uses no oak, resulting in a focused and linear wine. Steel ageing results in a very pure expression of terroir. The nose is fresh and mineral, with grassy and citrus notes. On the palate there is a textural richness, which is balanced by citrussy acidity and savoury minerality.

The lovely dry French rose comes from a great wine producer called Astralabe, a name that is extremely familiar to New Zealanders, only this producer is completely underelated to our own Astrolabe wines. 

Chene Bleu Rose is a relatively new wine brand at Regional from an exciting, high altitude vineyard in Vaucluse, in the region of Provence-Alpes-Cotes-d'Azur. All of the wines are certified organic with the EU and made to exactly quality standards. Hand picked grapes, double sorted in the vineyard, tiny yields and obvious high quality flavours are just some of the reasons to drink these wines.

This dry rose more than lives up to the promise of a refreshing southern French wine and it's made mostly from the Grenache grape which is blended here with Syrah, Cinsault, Mourvedre and Rolle - also known in Italy as Vermentino.

This is a great French rose to serve chilled and enjoy with salads on a warm summer day.

This elegant red (100% Tannat) comes from 30 year old vines in the Madiran appellation, south-west France. The Chateau Aydie red is fine, elegant and complex on the nose, with a blend of black fruit and coffee aromas. A very rich attack is followed by a quite mature consistency and silky tannins. This is an exceptional Madiran, powerful and complex, with good ageing potential.

The House of Ruinart makes one of the most delicious champagnes we stock here in store; this sensationally full bodied, creamy blanc de blancs. This champagne is made 100% from Chardonnay and is a multi vintage blend with notes of intense white floral and peach aromas intermingled with hints of golden ripe yellow fruit and a complexity of white nutty notes on the finish. Crisp refreshing acidity adds length and tension to every great sip, which finishes with a lingering flavour. 

Most of the grapes in this wine and those in all Ruinart champagnes are grown in the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims terroirs in Champagne.

* The House of Ruinart was first established in the Champagne region in 1729 and was inspired by a monk.