Top drinking full bodied, dry, crisp and peachy Marlborough Chardonnay made from grapes grown on a blend of vineyards on the Wairau Valley and the Southern Valleys in Marlborough. Flavours of white peach, nectarines and ripe grapefruit intermingle in this complex white from New Zealand's biggest wine region.

The grapes were fermented in a combination of new and old oak barriques and given 10 months ageing in oak prior to bottling. 

The Natural State wines are made by second generation Churton Estate winemakers, Ben and Jack Weaver, sons of the winery's founders, Sam and Mandy. This Field Blend combines Petit Manseng (extremely rare in New Zealand), Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. All grapes were harvested on the same day and co-fermented then bottled, unfined, unfiltered with zero sulphur additions. 

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.

The Natural State wines are the brainchild of second generation family winemakers, Ben and Jack Weaver.

Flinty, fresh and fabulously zesty in flavour, Greg Sauvignon Blanc is 100% Awatere Valley fruit and is a medium bodied, intensely fresh expression of Marlborough's most planted white grape variety, with herbaceous, tomato leaf and blackcurrant flavours.  

We think it's a winner and we're not alone - this wine is the winner of a Gold Medal at the Sakura Awards in Japan in 2020, which is why we think it represents great value for money. And that's not all. 

Awards for this wine

2020 Concours Mondial Du Sauvignon: Revelation Trophy

2020 Royal Easter Show Wine Awards: Champion Export Wine Trophy

2020 Sakura Japan Women’s Wine Awards: Gold

2019 Top 100 new release wines, Gourmet Traveller Wine - 5 Stars Michael Cooper, NZ - 4.5 Stars

Joe Czerwinski for Robert Parker, US. - 90/100 Points

Bob Campbell, NZ - Gold Ribbon: 5 Stars (Third vintage in a row)

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.

Winemaker Kevin Judd makes one of Marlborough's best Chardonnays every year and this one is full bodied with intense ripe flavours of grapefruit, burnt orange and white nectarine, which mingle with savoury aromas of smoked almonds, hazelnut meringue and the heady fragrance of freshly cut hay. The mealy savouriness carries through onto a rich, textural palate, evidence of this wine?s low-intervention winemaking. An intricate bone-dry style that is highly concentrated with a distinct flintiness, tight structure and crisp citrussy finish.

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. 

You could say this is the ultimate insider's wine. It's a new brand made by highly experienced Marlborough winemaker William Hoare, who was the original winemaker and then GM at Fromm. Novum is his new brand. It is named after the Roman word 'novum', meaning new. The grapes are from Dog Point's Settlement Vineyard, which is certified organic. It's tight, youthful, medium bodied, silky in texture and will age superbly.

We think these wines offer exceptionally good value for money and this Marlborough Pinot Noir offers a super tasty expression of Pinot with notes of complex earthy flavours as well as appealing red fruit and the balance of crisp acidity providing a lingering finish.

The name Kōparepare is Maori for gift and $1 from every bottle of wine is donated to LegaSea, a not for profit organisation set up by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council in 2012 to raise awareness of the marine environment and inspire public support.

The wines are made by Whitehaven in Marlborough, which was founded by Greg and Sue White in 1994 after they sailed into the Marlborough Sounds to shelter from a storm in the early 1990s and fell for the natural beauty of the region and the haven it provided. 

A  very aromatic Pinot Gris with a nose exhibiting quince, dough, pear apple and cream. The palate is rich and intense with flavours of pork fat, apple and stone ruit - brought together in a bright acid frame.

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. 

On the nose pungent, rich tropical blackcurrant bud and passionfruit aromas combine with notes of green nettle and oyster shell. The palate is generous and intense with concentrated flavours of white peach, passionfruit and fresh grapefruit. A slight herbal edge and salty minerality leads to a long lingering finish.

Charles Wiffen and his family are well known for producing well priced (affordable), well liked (very good quality) wines in a range of styles, all from Marlborough grapes.

While Merlot is the second most planted red in Marlborough, it lags a long way behind the popular Pinot Noir, but wines such as this show another, softer side to the red wine story in this country's biggest wine region. Good drinking now and very good value for money.

Lively new Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough with smoothness and interesting textural mouthfeel from a portion (1%) of barrel fermentation and 8% wild yeast ferment both adding complexity to the vibrant fruity appeal. 

Tropical aromas and creamy notes add complexity to this wine, which drinks beautifully now with fresh fish and can age for three to five years. 

Section 94 is one of New Zealand great white wines, made from a small portion of vineyard land that was named Section 94 on the country's original lands and survey map. It's the brainchild of the highly experienced viticulturist-winemaking duo, Ivan Sutherland (one time Olympic medal winning rower) and James Healy, the grapes are 100% barrel fermented in new French oak followed by aging in oak. Complex, great and long lived maverick wine.

Layers of depth with nutty aromas and full bodied with dry flavours. Drinks well on release and can also age, as this example shows. It is 100% Sauvignon Blanc but is not labelled with the varietal as Sutherland and Healy want to highlight what's possible from the land first and foremost.

This is a very fragrant, full-bodied Gewurztraminer. The nose is concentrated and intense, with notes of rose petals, Turkish delight, musk and ginger. The palate is medium dry and textural, with a bright acidity to balance the gentle sweetness.

The most flavoursome Chardonnay barrels are selected after a year of aging and then blended together to make this pinnacle of Seresin's dry, full bodied white wines, the Reserve Chardonnay. The reserve wine spends another six months in old oak puncheons, gaining depth, complexity and integration of flavour thanks to this additional maturation. 

Organic certification

The organic story at Seresin

One of the greatest things about Seresin Estate is the organic certification. This came relatively early on for Seresin, who was dismayed by the amount used and the impacts of man made chemicals, which were routinely and frequently sprayed on vines. His early adopting philosophy of organic certification paved a positive path for the integrity of the wines as well as leading others to follow suit.