There are three single vineyard Pinot Noirs in the Mount Edward stable, including this outstanding full bodied example which is made from grapes grown on the upper terraces of the Pisa sub region. These grapes are always the first to be harvested and Pisa Terrace Pinot Noir is a wine of perfume and aromatics, a lifted wine, light in feel and weight, elegant with a purity of fruit.

This Pinot Noir is one of our favourites and comes from Wellington's closest wine region, the Wairarapa; Gladstone, to be precise, where winemaker Karl Johner has what you might call a foot in both camps. The German born winemaker produces wine at his winery in Gladstone in the New Zealand summer. In our winter, he hot foots it back to Germany to work harvest at his winery there.

The wines from both places are classic, elegant expressions of aromatic grape varieties; high points are Pinot Noir, Riesling and Pinot Gris; made in a range of styles.

This Pinot Noir is a dry, medium bodied, earthy and smooth. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. This wine ticks the vegan friendly box.

Fruit from an established vineyard, grown on the famous alluvial terrace - a quintessentially Martinborough Pinot Noir, with classic savoury characters, lifted spice and supple tannin.

Winemaker's notes

The Kiwa vineyard, in the township of Martinborough is one of the mature plots planted in the district. A combination of deep alluvial gravels for which the Martinborough Terraces are renowned. A combination of Clones UCD 5 and 6 rewards us with a complex and spicy wine.  The fruit was destemmed to an open top fermenter with the inclusion of some whole bunch. It was fermented using indigenous yeast and hand plunged just once a day for soft extraction, with a total vat time of 25 days. After pressing it was matured in 35% new French oak barriques for 20 months. Bottled without fining or filtration, promoting textured mouth feel and balanced fruit complexities.

Tasting

The Kiwa vineyard tends to exhibit complex savoury notes, of bay laurel, green tea and Chinese five spice. These are underpinned by an array of red fruits such as raspberry, sour red cherry and red currant, that sit amidst lifted and floral perfumed notes. The savoury complexity continues through the palate, with a wine that offers both grace and presence. It is bright and expressive with incredible buoyancy, thanks to the taut focus and firm tannins. This helps to tighten the structure giving one confidence to cellar for at least 10 years. Serve at 16°C and match with any game food.

Exceptional North Canterbury Pinot Noir made in small volumes from the evocatively named isolated hill vineyard in Waiau. Spicy aromas and structured tannins lead into a full body wine made using indigenous yeast fermentation and spending 26 days on skins with ageing for 15 months in French oak.

This wine comes from winemaker Dom Maxwell, the talented winemaker at Greystone. Forager is his own personal winemaking project. 

This is drinking beautifully with silky mouthfeel and ripe red cherry fruit as well as dark plum flavours; a gorgeous wine with earthy depths of flavour. Stunning new release from the Huntress, winemaker Jannine Rickards, who uses 40% whole bunch ferment in her Pinot Noir - a winemaking method that enhances structure and adds grapevine tannin to wine rather than relying on oak for weight in the wine. This is the fourth vintage of Huntress Pinot and is made from On Giant's Shoulders Vineyard; it's a blend of four different clones of Pinot Noir;  10/5, Abel, 828 and clone 5.

Delicious, made in small volumes, get in quick. 

Gamey, savoury, deliciously refreshing Pinot Noir from Martinborough's next new big thing - Te Muna Valley, a dramatically majestic sub region for grapes that is situated 9 kilometres east of Martinborough village. 

Big Sky Wines is on the high alluvial terraces of Martinborough's Huangarua River at Te Muna, 9 kilometres east of the village. Low yielding deep gravels, hot days and cool nights result in wines that are deep and complex. This is their flagship wine from a low vigour, low cropping vineyard.  Hand picked, crushed into two tonne open fermenters with 10% whole bunch fermentation and minimal crushing and with wild fermentation followed by 12 months in French oak, 12.5% of which was new. And therein lies the beauty of this insanely delicious Pinot Noir with its ripe berry fruit flavours of dark cherries and plums, balanced by mouth filling savouriness, warm spice, and silky tannins. 

The Big Sky story

Jeremy Corban and Katherine Jacobs founded Big Sky Wines in the Te Muna Valley, Martinborough, in 2005. They have since expanded their small vineyard, which is predominantly planted in Pinot Noir and also has a little Sauvignon Blanc, which they give extra textural complexity to with a little time in old oak on lees. 

Impressive and full bodied, savoury and earthy with all the classic flavours of great Wairarapa Pinot Noir. Winemaker Jannine Rickards has crafted a gorgeous textural Pinot Noir here with gentle French oak maturation, 20% new, giving the wine a light fine and no filtration. This wine is from an excellent vintage, 2020, and has great longevity of up to seven to eight years as well as being a great drink now. 

An elegant wine showing dark red berry fruits, dried herbs and subtle savoury notes. There are complex layers of whole bunch characteristics, spices, earthy cedar and forest floor. Elegantly concentrated with fine tannins and a silky texture. 

Beautifully suited to a rack of lamb or game dishes such as venison or duck.

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+.

Pinot lovers will adore this spicy, earthy and juicy medium bodied Pinot Noir from Marlborough's Southern Valleys, where elevated hillside vineyard sites benefit the early ripening Pinot grape. This is a great red with structure and impressive flavours for drinking now and also for cellaring, if willpower allows.

Celestia is the apt name for one of Martinborough's most structured, serious and age worthy Pinot Noirs made using 100% whole bunch fermentation, a technique that adds structure and depth to the wine. This is the first vintage of this wine is from the superlative 2020 vintage and name comes from the big sky views from Big Sky Vineyard in Te Muna Valley, Martinborough. Celestia Pinot Noir is made with 100% whole bunch fermentation in seasoned puncheons with ageing for two years. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The result is a very perfumed wine with aromas of rosehips, black tea, black fruit and undergrowth, with a dense and dark palate, fine tannins and a satiny texture.

The Big Sky story

Jeremy Corban and Katherine Jacobs founded Big Sky Wines in the Te Muna Valley, Martinborough, in 2005. They have since expanded their small vineyard, which is predominantly planted in Pinot Noir.

Wai-iti is a single vineyard Pinot Noir from Waipara's The Boneline winery. Generously fruity and full bodied with great structure and texture on the palate. This is an elegant wine at a great price.

One per customer please - thank you

Cornish Point is one of Central Otago's great Pinot Noirs and is a dark fruited, smooth, dry and full bodied expression of Pinot Noir from the eponymous 7.6 hectare vineyard. The vineyard is typically the first to be harvested for Felton Road as it is a warm site, bordered by the Clutha River on one side and the Kawarau River on the other. This is relatively unusual, in being almost entirely surrounded by water, which moderates the microclimate on this site, enabling earlier ripening grapes with soft, smooth tannic structure and bold ripe fruit flavours of black cherry and summer berries, supported by a firm backbone of tannin. 

Cornish Point is an old gold miners’ settlement located adjacent to the Hartley and Reilly diggings where the first large find of gold was made in the Central Otago gold rush. It was named after the Cornish gold miners who lived there and was abandoned in the late 19th century when it was planted as an apricot orchard.

About Felton Road

Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter and owner Nigel Greening (who bought the winery in 2000) are a formidable team producing elegant, powerful southern Pinots from their estate vineyards, all now organically and biodynamically certified. 

They specialise in producing limited bottlings from their different vineyard blocks and sites in Bannockburn, Central Otago. 

Evocative by name and by nature; a wine with great structure thanks to 10% whole bunch fermentation adding depth to the smooth, deliciously savoury flavours. Black Rabbit Vineyard is made from grapevines grown on soils that are 400 million years old on a north facing site that was planted in 2002 at an elevation of 250 to 315 metres above sea level.

The high temperature variation between day and night lends the grapes an elongated window of ripening, which results in savoury notes, a full body and complex flavours of black cherries, a hint of cedar and savoury oak with smooth dark plum aromas and a smooth, long finish. 

The grapes were fermented with wild yeasts and given 21 days on skins and maturation in oak for a year prior to being bottled, unfixed.