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.

A rare delicious fresh white wine made from Petit Manseng, a French grape that originates in the south of France and makes characterful dry white wines such as this lively, aromatic wine - flavours of grapefruit and zesty ripe citrus make this a deliciously tasty wine. 

The father-daughter winemaking team, John and Beth Forrest, are champions of lesser known, outstandingly interesting grape varieties from around the world, including Petit Manning. 

Pronounced 'pet-eet man-seng'. Deliciousness in a bottle.

Albariño is a classic Galician white grape variety from north western Spain, which thrives in New Zealand and tastes of fabulous aromatic lemon zest with green olive and freshly picked apple aromas. Forrest Estate winemaker Beth Forrest first encountered it in Spain and was smitten immediately. This led to Albarino being brought into New Zealand by Riversun Nurseries in Gisborne and, eventually, to growing in Marlborough where Beth and her famous winemaking father, John, Forrest, both love it and produce this fabulous dry white wine.

This wine shows all the classical Albariño elements with a New Zealand touch of vibrant acidity, white peach, pear, apricots and quince, with an orange zest undertone.

Albarino is a grape from the Galicia region in Spain. It is known for making fairly pale, high acid wines with distinctive aromatic stone-fruit qualities. This is a new varietal for North Canterbury, which has shown promising results for this grape. The nose on this wine is rich with classic stone-fruit, spice and citrus notes. The palate is concentrated and juicy, with great acid brightness.

This is one of New Zealand's most popular white wines made 100% from our most planted red grape, Pinot Noir. It's a dry, fresh and medium bodied white made from hand picked Pinot Noir grapes grown at Wooing Tree's home block vineyard in Cromwell, Central Otago. Minimal skin contact and stainless steel fermentation retains freshness and a light zesty flavour and character. 

Albarino is a lively Spanish white wine from Galicia in north west Spain; the region also known as green Spain because it has a higher than typical rainfall for that country. This may be why Albarino has adapted so well to New Zealand’s maritime climate and this bright and tasty wine comes from a small, sheltered vineyard in the Upper Moutere hills of Nelson, where cool nights preserve the acidity that drives every succulent sip.

"Albarino is lively, like the Spanish people; lemony, punchy, aromatic and layered..." says winemaker Trudy Shield. 

And what's not to love about all that. 

Complex and enticing with ripe apricot, fig, vanilla, clove and hazelnut aromas on the nose, followed by a concentrated palate offering plush texture backed by beautifully pitched acidity, finishing wonderfully long and expansive.

Deliciously smooth, textural Pinot Gris made with grapes grown in Hawke's Bay. All grapes were destemmed and fermented in amphora (clay vessels) from Spain with gentle hand plunging followed by 15 days of skin maceration to derive colour and flavoursome depth in the wine. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

This is a pronounced skin contact expression of the Amphora Albarino with dried apricots, quince & orange rind notes. Appealing phenolic texture with treacle & marmalade, finishing with freshness.

As I was pressing the Albarino, (which had been macerating on skins for two weeks) the 'skins' portion began to turn a bright orange colour. I separated this amber portion into puncheon & barrel.

Later down the ageing track the pressings component from the Amphora Albarino announced itself as its own wine. So I paid attention and gave it its own voice.

The whole bunches were hand harvested, de-stemmed and macerated on the skins for two weeks time. A very light daily hand plunge and the addition of my active vineyard starter yeast which fermented underneath the vines. Biodynamic preparations 500, CPP were applied to the soil through out the year, as well as silica quartz (501) to the canopy.

Millton Vineyard is a key pioneer of Viognier, producing this one from vines grown on the silt banks of the Waipoa River in the Gisborne region. This is a dry, full bodied and textural wine with ripe apricot skin and peachy flavours. It drinks well now and will continue to age gracefully for the medium term; five to six years and possibly even longer. 

Stone fruits and green fruits such as pear and apple combine beautifully with some phenolic texture in this luscious wine.

Pegasus Bay whites have the X factor and this awesome blend of four grapes is no exception. It's made from Semillon and Chardonnay which add toasty, rich, dry and creamy notes to this off beat wine style. Ultra ripe Semillon from 33 year old vines was fermented naturally with its solids to add some funky complexity, and then aged on lees in old oak barrels for 2 ½ years. A little Gewurztraminer and Muscat add aromatic interest and appeal. 

The longer than usual period in oak has given this wine a toasty and nutty character, with extra richness on the palate. There are also hints of citrus blossom and some floral notes. Skin contact during the fermentation has added savouriness, however, the wine still has crisp acidity that provides for a lively and refreshing finish. A full bodied and complex wine, not for the faint hearted. Funkier than a night on the town with James Brown!