Fiano's established home is Campania in Southwest Italy, where great examples
are revered for style somewhere between a stunning Chardonnay and a dry
Riesling. Compared to other grapes, it is low-yielding and thus often overlooked by
commercial wineries. However it is well worth the work, showing delicate floral and
spice aromas that mellow and honey over time, giving way to great texture and impressive acidity.

This noble variety seems to have found its home at the stunning Howell Family vineyard, off Maraekakaho Road in Bridge Pa – one of a handful of Fiano plantings in New Zealand.
White floral, stonefruit, lemon zest and hint of brioche on the nose. On the palate these flavours merge with a touch of marmalade and cedar. A rich, textured, ripe wine with a zesty fresh finish. 900 bottle made.

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.

Honey meets candied lemon zest. Deliciously intense sweet Riesling with aromas of limes, green apples and ripe apricots. This is a stellar dessert wine and, we think, even better with your favourite soft cheese.

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.

This Black Estate Home Pinot Noir was grown on the Home Vineyard located in North Canterbury on a north facing sedimentary clay fan on a gentle hill side slope.

Deep ruby in the glass with perfumed, alluring open and fresh berry fruits, earth, custard and sandalwood on the nose. Supple sensual fruit on the palate with supporting tannin. offering a soft, structural, crisp and mineral experience. 

Vines between the sea and the mountains make for a romantic story and the raw ingredients that go into this distinctively dry and complex Sauvignon Blanc. 

It comes from a vineyard at Kekerengu, south of Blenheim. It is the most southern vineyard in the Marlborough region. 

All of the grapes in this wine were hand picked and fermented in stainless steel to full dryness. The wine's flavours are fresh, light, herbal and succulent with a salty tang on the finish, which lingers, refreshingly, long after the last sip. 

This is a different take on the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc theme, which will appeal to those looking for the next layer of flavour as well as fans of fruit forward Sauvignon Blanc. Here's a wine that combines both complexity with recognisable appeal. 

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters. 

Full barrel fermentation with natural yeasts provides depth and layers of savoury, creamy, ripe peach flavour to this gorgeously richly textured dry white.  impressively complex aromas of rockmelon, lemon peel, nougat and cedar invite Chardonnay lovers into each sip of this Central Otago Chardonnay, which has excellent concentration, expansive mouthfeel and lingering flavours. 

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.

Winery's notes...

A stylish Hawke's Bay blend that has chartered our way, a wine with a strong character and a strong following. Blended from the best blocks from our estate, we use a variety of clones, each block fermented then matured in oak barrels as stand alone parcels. After 12 months initial maturation, each barrel was tasted and scored with only the best making the cut for The Navigator. Softly concentrated with deep and dense aromas of plush red fruits, cocoa, spice and cedar, the palate is medium-full bodied with rich and succulent flavours. 

The long finish and fine tannins make this an ideal accompaniment for your beef dishes, richly flavoured foods and cheeses. 

Merlot 34%, Cabernet Sauvignon 31%, Cabernet Franc 19%, Malbec 16%

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.

The 2018 Grand Amateur Merchant is a fresh, cool climate red made exclusively from one of Hawkes Bays most exciting Cabernet Franc vineyards - The Howell Family Vineyard. In the tradition of the finest barrel aged Loire Cabernet Francs where Sam worked for 6 years, this fresh, elegant and perfumed red will reward patient wine lovers for 8-9 years from the vintage. Blueberries, raspberries, Damson plums, dried thyme and background cedar notes from oak ageing.

This is an excellent value Wairarapa Pinot Noir. The grapes are carefully selected to create a great New Zealand Pinot with a medium body and a fruit forward and complex palate.  

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.

A little old oak fermentation adds flesh and weight to this medium sweet style of Pinot Gris, which has rich flavours and characterful spicy white pear aromas. This North Canterbury Riesling has residual sugar between 10 and 20 grams per litre, which is beautifully balanced by fresh acidity which adds purity and tension to this lively wine.

This is made from organically certified grapes grown on the banks of the Waipara River in North Canterbury.

The region's cool nights and hot days add length to the ripening season, which makes it easy to ripen grapes with rich flavours. 

* Terrace Edge was named the New Zealand Organic Vineyard of the Year in 2018 and this year was named Aotearoa New Zealand Organic Winery of the Year.

Savoury dried herbs and earthy notes lead into this impressively structured Pinot Noir from the Gibbston Valley, the last region typically to harvest its grapes each year in Central Otago. This cool climate is expressed in this wine in the high acidity and dried herb notes, which add depth and complexity to the weighty red plum notes and lovely full body. An impressive wine from a very good vintage and likely to shine in 10 years' time - if it lasts that long. 

Released and on the market now. Ageing time: potentially 10 to 11 years+.

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.