An exceptional dry, full bodied, smooth and complex red from a great vintage, 2020, in Hawke's Bay. This blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and  Cabernet Franc is made from hand picked grapes and it massively over delivers on taste, complexity and its incredible depth of flavour from spending 18 months ageing in French oak. The flavours are outrageously good in this lovely red. 

Good-value Pinot Noir from Central Otago where Pinot rules over 80 per cent of the vineyard area and makes gorgeous fruit driven reds with medium body and fresh, cool climate notes of bright acidity and earthy tones. Lovely new addition to our shelves.
The wine brand is owned by two families who grow the grapes and employ experienced winemakers in the region to produce their wines. The philosophy of the owners is to produce high quality wines made from hand picked grapes from vineyard sites with low yields, using wild yeast fermentations, minimal sulphur additions and using sustainable practices as much as possible. This is their quest and the wines are elegant renditions of Otago's edgy climate with its hot summer days and cool seasons on both sides of ripening. 

Smooth earthy flavours intermingle with dark cherry flavours in this new Pinot Noir which is made with grapes grown on a well established, older vineyard site which has a new lease of life, in the centre of Martinborough. The 3.5 hectare vineyard was established by the Brodies who sold it to Eva and Ross Mackay in 2018. The new name is Dublin Street Wines, the first vintage being from the high quality 2019 vintage followed by the great 2020 one. Both years were beautifully high quality ones for wine with dry settled weather, which produced great quality grapes that translated into very good wines. 

The vineyard is entirely devoted to Pinot Noir and planted with five different clonal variations (114, 115, 667, 777 and 5). 

The aim of the game now is to reduce oak use in the wines, replacing it with whole bunch and wild yeast fermentations; two winemaking tools that can accentuate structure and savoury flavour aspects, without dominating. 

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.

In Te Reo Māori, Waikoa translates to happy waters.

The 2023 Waikoa is a return to a blend of varietals. Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc from friends who own the Grava vineyard. This wine brings me joy for its salivating deliciousness and makes me think of spring and summer sunshine filled days.

Partial whole cluster inclusion and wild fermentation, time on skins give it beautiful aromatics & texture. Karla & Alistair who farm Grava are BioGro certified organic! So good!

A perfumed nose of florals, citrus, wild fennel and honeydew in a beech forest during summer. The palate is driven by refreshing citrus fruits, lime & pink grapefruit and a long pithy textured palate.

Serve lightly chilled on a warm day or served with fresh kaimoana.

Pale gold in colour, Waipara Downs Chardonnay opens with ripe nectarine, lemon zest and white peach. Subtle toasted French oak and almond meal add savoury depth, while leesy texture builds mid-palate weight. Fine, chalky acidity drives a long, mineral finish. A poised, cool-climate style showing purity, elegance and gentle creamy richness. A stunner at the price.

Earthy notes and freshly crushed forrest leaves lead the aromas in this complex and smooth Pinot Noir from Johner Estate winery in the central Wairarapa. This is an outstanding wine with depth and richness providing a plush mid palate texture to this lively, lovely wine. Drink now or cellar for five to six years+.

Whole bunch fermented blend of Riesling and Pinot Gris, which spent the first part of their wine journey in amphora with two months of skin contact, which results in the orange hue in this lovely refreshing dry wine. Softly white wine with grip and aromatic appeal, which ticks the vegan box. 

Certified organic  

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.

When winemaker Kevin Judd was still head honcho of winemaking at Cloudy Bay, he decided to register the name Greywacke, just in case. 

It turned out to be a foresighted thing to do and the brand has now taken off with his wide and rich experience translating into some of Marlborough's highest quality wines, both white and red - and sweet, as in this half bottle of deliciousness. This luscious Pinot Gris has lots of tasty botrytis, which adds a honeyed texture and rich layers of flavour. Think liquid marmalade and you're on the right track.

Looking for a treat? Here it is... with cheese or your favourite pud'.

The jewel in the Esk Valley crown, made from one of this country's most distinctive plots of land at Bayview, north of Napier, at the original Esk Valley Winery.

The Terraces has long been associated with excellence and the best wines from Esk Valley Estate's iconic sun drenched hillside terrace vineyard - the first place that Malbec was ever grown in New Zealand.

The philosophy behind this wine is to express the single vineyard Since its inaugural 1991 vintage, only 13 vintages have been produced and, for the first time in its history, this is the winery's third consecutive vintage. Which is testament to winemaker Gordon Russell's quest to make the best and to the winery's ongoing conversion to organic production. 

The wine is a blend of Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. All grapes were dry farmed, hand harvested and co fermented in one concrete fermenter with wild yeasts. The wine was bottled without fining or filtration. 

This wine represents the pinnacle of Esk Valley wines and is considered the jewel in the winery's crown. It is a keeper for the wine cellar and also makes a special gift. 

This Marlborough Viognier is one of New Zealand's most outstanding examples of its type with its full body and dry flavours balanced by weighty ripe peachy notes and a long, refreshing finish.

Viognier originates in the northern Rhone Valley in France where it typically makes high quality, 100% varietal wines (made solely from this grape, without blending) but can also be used in full bodied dry white blends. 

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.

VINEYARD - The fruit from this wine was sourced from a single Waipara Valley vineyard.  The fruit is left on the vine to ripen until the berries start to lose moisture and shrivel, concentrating the flavours and producing a rich style of Pinot Gris. 

SOIL TYPE - Alluvial gravels

WINEMAKING - The fruit was hand-picked and meticulously hand sorted. The juice was fermented warm by indigenous yeasts in aged French oak barriques.

TASTING NOTES - Wonderfully fruited and fragrant, the bouquet shows mango, golden peach, poached pear and rich floral aromas, leading to a splendidly flavoursome palate offering opulent fruit flavours with spicy nuances, finishing long and delicious. Gorgeously styled with rich tones of ripe fruit intensity backed by juicy acidity. Sam Kim - Wine Orbit.

Winemaker Grant Edmonds crafts this deliciously dark fruited and complex Syrah with its subtle floral characters along with slightly more muscular tannins define this elegant and complex wine. Finely balanced, it will develop over the next seven to eight years in the bottle.