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.

The seemingly maverick wines of Domaine Marcel Deiss pay homage to historical field blends made in Alsace, France; a region steeped in controversial history between France and Germany, countries which have both fought and both won (and lost) ownership of this territory. This is why the wines in Alsace are made from grapes more commonly associated with Germany, such as this interesting white - a dry Muscat, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. 

This wine is made from vines planted in 1997 at a density of 2,000 per hectare on steep terraced, south facing slopes of shallow, granite soil. 

The grapes in this wine were hand picked, fermented with natural yeasts and aged for 12 months in large, ancient foudres.

Like all wines of Domaine Marcel Deiss, this one has cult status with wine collectors and drinkers alike so we are thrilled to have a wide range of them back in store, only they are in limited supply, so if you're a fan or a curious newcomer, get in quick.

Domaine Marcel Deiss is located in Bergheim, a small village nestling in the heart of the wine region of Alsace, equal distance from the northern and southern boundaries of the region. The current winemaker is Jean-Michel Deiss, who was born into a long-established family of wine growers, living at Bergheim since 1744.

Today he manages the domaine, which consists of 26 hectares (52 acres) of hillside vineyards spread over nine communes and approximately 20 kilometres.

This is a bright, bone dry Pinot Gris with an underlying salinity. The nose is zesty and layered with lemon and grapefruit notes. These flavours continue on the palate, and are met with a mineral touch and bright acidity. 

This is a great wine from the home of Pinot Gris. The aroma is lively, floral and complex with notes of elderflower, citrus and green apple. The palate is rich, balanced and spicy, with crisp, pure fruit flavours.

An elegant Syrah from Hawke's Bay winemaker Kate Radburnd, whose extensive experience of making Syrah brings out the best in this exotic spicy French grape variety. Red fruit aromas are supported here by a velvet smooth backbone of fine tannins. Pure fruited and fragrant, with blueberry and cardamon spice. This Syrah has lingering length and persistence of flavour, a hallmark of this variety.

This delicious, dark and juicy new release is made from hand harvested Syrah grapes, which were destemmed and fermented in open tops with some foot stomping. Some whole bunches were incorporated in the ferment.

Elegant and refined with a backbone of pristine fruit and balanced acidity, this finely concentrated Chardonnay has a lovely freshness and finesse and will become more complex as it evolves over time. It is drinking well now, and will develop beautifully over 5-7 years.

VINEYARDS
Old vine Mendoza Chardonnay was sourced from two sites in Hawke’s Bay.
The Mangatahi site is inland and elevated and later ripening, while Bridge Pa
ripens Chardonnay beautifully with their red metal soils.
Low yielding vines, open canopy management, managed irrigation and Sustainable
Winegrowing NZ farmed were common to both sites. The Mendoza clone with their
typical hen and chicken bunches produced fruit of great intensity and balance,
and structured acidity. This Chardonnay was hand harvested and cooled overnight.

WINEMAKING
The cooled bunches were hand sorted then whole bunched pressed. The majority of
juice was cold settled then racked to barrel. Fermentation was in new and seasoned
French oak, with selected cultured yeast and indigenous yeast, for added complexity.
A combination of 500L puncheons and 225L barriques were employed. Lees stirring
post fermentation was regular and malolactic fermentation was completed in barrel.
The Chardonnay matured in barrel for 9 months before blending and bottling.

TASTING NOTE
An elegant Chardonnay which focuses on the beautiful structure so evident in this
grape variety. Pristine fruit and balanced acidity are the backbone, enhanced with
seamless texture and mouthfeel. Citrus notes, particularly grapefruit pith abound, gracefully supported by sweet French oak.

Radburnd Cellars 

Made by the legendary Peter Sisseck of PIngus fame, this is an approachable, yet big and mouth filling wine, with juicy fruit forward flavours and ripe tannins. Predominantly Tempranillo.

We are thrilled to have the wines of Domaine Marcel Deiss back in store, only this time with a wider range than we have had in the past. These cult French wines come from Alsace in north east France; the country's driest wine region and a territory long disputed between the French and the Germans. This history accounts for why these wines are made from grapes classically considered to be German in origin. All Deiss wines are certified organic, made from grapes grown biodynamically and they break new ground in style and quality. Many are field blends, made in homage to historical growing methods where many different grape varieties grew together alongside each other, were picked together and fermented together. 

This medium bodied, complex dry white is a blend of three classic Alsace white grapes, Muscat, Riesling and Pinot Gris with a little Pinot Noir added in, which comes from vines planted between 1977 and 1997, which are grown at high density of between 8,000 and 12,000 vines per hectare on white gravels. 

This grapes are pressed slowly from whole clusters for up to 12 hours followed by wild yeast fermentation with the wine being aged for 12 months in large old foudres.

The result is a complex dry white made from three great white grapes and one red. Maverick? Definitely. Delicious? Absolutely.

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

Fabulous Pinot Noir with amazing depth of flavour especially at this price; a wine that really puts Marlborough's best foot forward thanks to winemaker Rebecca Salmond, who sources grapes from the region's Southern Valleys. Flavours are of ripe cherry, blackberry and spice lead into a lovely, elegant yet weighty palate with superb fruit ripeness and intensity. This wine will continue to age for two years plus and pairs well with lighter red meat dishes.

Made by Mt Edward winery co-owner, winemaker and Riesling devotee Duncan Forsyth, whose focus is on dry Rieslings. This is a super tasty with with complex fresh aroma spectrum and flavours of lemons, limes, and grapefruit, underpinned by the freshness of sorbet and a lingering dry finish. 

Grapes were whole bunch pressed and fermented in stainless steel barrels and stainless tanks with wild yeasts, no temperature control and lees aging for three months.