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.

The evocatively named Central Otago winery, Wooing Tree, is as famous for its pink wines as for its full bodied Pinot Noirs. Tickled Pink is a light rosé, made 100% from Pinot Noir as a sweet wine. Flavours of strawberries, red berries and honey are well balanced by refreshing acidity, which adds length and zestiness to this wine. It's a great match with soft creamy cheese as well as with your favourite pudding.

Clearview Sea Red is a deliciously full bodied sweet wine made from a blend of red grapes and fortified to retain sweetness, raising its alcohol to 17% ABV, producing a big, loveable cuddly sweetie. Ideal for drinking with cheddar cheese on a cold night by a warm fire or anytime you're looking for a delicious sweetie. 

Clearview Estate sprang to life in 1986 when Tim Turvey and  business partner Helma van den Bergare purchased the neglected but historic Vidal's No.2 Vineyard at Te Awanga in coastal Hawke's Bay. This is their take on fortified dessert reds such as port, displaying a weighty, unctuous palate of dense berry fruits and plums, which finishes dry and long. The wine is blended across vintages and the base variety is Malbec. Drink now for a fruitier style or cellar carefully for several years.

About Clearview Estate

Clearview Estate is one of oldest, most well established wineries in Hawke's Bay and is situated on the Te Awanga Coast, south of Napier. It's a great place to visit for tastings at the cellar door as well as lunch in the dappled shade of the established courtyard area. The winery was founded by Tim Turvey, winemaker and co-owner. The current winemaker is the multi talented Matt Kirby.

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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'.

Made from riesling hand-picked from the same vines multiple times in late autumn, choosing only the most beautifully noble botrytic fruit on each occasion. Further hand selection was done in the winery retaining only the best berries. These were gently pressed and a small amount of very rich juice at 45 brix was obtained. It was allowed to settle and the clarified portion was then fermented over many months at low temperatures in order to help retain its special aromas and flavours. The juice was so concentrated that when the fermentation stopped it still had a rich, natural sweetness. It was made in the style of an Alsatian Selection de Grains Nobles or a German Trockenbeerenauslësen.

The wine is a bright lemon-gold colour. The abundant aromas and flavours evoke impressions of ripe cantaloupe melon, mango, pineapple, lychees, and manuka honey. On the palate, the wine is rich and unctuous. Underneath this, however, there is a streak of minerality and fine acidity that keep it fresh, lively and refined, drawing out its lingering after flavours.

Source - Pegasus Bay

Petit Manseng is a rarely known, refreshing white grape grown in a small appellation in the south of France where it makes outstanding wines such as this fresh, bright and complex sweet white wine. This is one of our absolute faves here at Regional and a wine we admire greatly from one of the smallest wineries in New Zealand's biggest wine region, Marlborough. 

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.

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. 

The story of Alpha Domus began in 1989 when the Ham Family, Anthonius and Leonarda, along with their sons purchased 20 hectares of bare land in an area of the Western Heretaunga plains, later to become known as the Bridge Pa Triangle Wine District.

Pioneers in the area they established one of the first wineries and were instrumental in the formation of The Bridge Pa Triangle Wine District, giving the sub-region an identity as a premium wine growing area of Hawke’s Bay.

This wine is made using both fully and patially botryised Semillon grapes, harvested from original plantings. Fermentation took three to six weeks and was stopped once the perfect balance of alcohol, acidity and sweetness had been achieved. 

The luscious palate of orange blossom, apricot and honey flavurs are completed by a zesty citrus finish. Ideal as an aperitif, or to complete your evening.

From the winery...

Founder, Philippa was raised on a farm just outside of Lawrence, Central Otago's first gold-rush town.  Well before it was ‘the right thing to do’, Philippa’s parents farmed holistically and with respect to the environment and animals, so it was perfectly natural for Philippa to follow suit on her vineyard.

Today, Domaine Rewa produces over 15,000 bottles   each year, including Single Vineyard Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling.

Hand harvested bunches of grapes with at least 30% noble botrytis were fermented slowly at cool temperatures in stainless steel to retain the bold, richly deep fruit characters and varietal purity of late harvest Riesling. Aromas span the range of limes, mandarins, peaches, cantaloupe melons and comb honey, with a hint of root ginger. While mouth filling and concentrated, it has a lively core of crisp acidity and minerality that provides a perfect foil to its lusciousness and draws out the lingering aftertaste. With careful cellaring this wine should develop extra complexity and depth over the next decade and live well beyond.