Upstairs at Regional Wines

This tasting is an exploration of one of Burgundy's most celebrated villages, Gevrey-Chambertin, through a line-up from six leading houses in the highly regarded 2014 vintage.

Beginning with two village-level Vieilles Vignes wines from Domaine Fourrier and Domaine Geantet-Pansiot, we will examine how site, vine age and producer style express themselves at the village level before moving through a quartet of benchmark Gevrey premier crus: Geantet-Pansiot Poissenot, Fourrier Combe aux Moines Vieille Vigne, Domaine Bruno Clair’s monopole Clos du Fonteny and their Clos St. Jacques (a de facto grand cru).

We finish with a comparative tasting of four examples of Charmes-Chambertin - typically the earliest accessible of the nine Gevrey grand crus - from Geantet-Pansiot, Domaine Arlaud, Domaine Dujac and Domaine Armand Rousseau. In particular, the Rousseau and Dujac wines are now rare and highly priced in the auction market.

These wines offer a rare opportunity to examine and compare how some of Burgundy's most respected domaines produced their wines from a range of excellent Gevrey sites and terroirs in this relatively approachable vintage.

The wines are:

• 2014 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Vieille Vigne
• 2014 Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes

• 2014 Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Poissenot
• 2014 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Combe aux Moines Vieille Vigne
• 2014 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos du Fonteny
• 2014 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques

• 2014 Geantet-Pansiot Charmes-Chambertin
• 2014 Domaine Arlaud Charmes-Chambertin
• 2014 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin
• 2014 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin

.........

At Regional Wines, Beers and Spirits - 15 Ellice Street, Wellington 6011.

Cancellations must be made no later than 48hrs in advance.

If sold out - please email John at online@regionalwines.co.nz to be placed on the waitlist.

Aroha is the Maori word for love and plenty of TLC has gone into tending the grapes that go into this full bodied Pinot Noir from the Te Muna Valley in Martinborough. 

This is the pinnacle Pinot Noir made by Craggy Range and represents a wine that can age superbly as well as drinking well now; preferably decanted. 

Red and black cherry flavours are supported by gentle smooth French oak ageing.

Tasting Note: Deep and complex bouquet of red cherry and sweet raspberry, pomegranate and hints of fresh zesty blood orange. Full-bodied yet extremely elegant, fine-grained but present tannins, minerally, youthful acidity and hints of Five Spice and a deep core of cool, vibrant fruit, lovely length, and persistence. Cellar 12 to 18 years.

Winemaking Notes: Harvested 9th April 2016, bottled 15th February 2018. Hand-picked and carefully selected 100% Abel Clone Pinot Noir grapes. All de-stemmed, cold-macerated and fermented in small batch stainless steel vats and left on grape skins for 4 weeks. Aged in 100% new French oak barriques of the Bourgogne Tonnelleries Rousseau, Remond and Meyrieux for 20 months. No fining and only light filtration before bottling.

“With a slew of red-berry and spicy nuances, this is a super-elegant pinot noir with very fine tannins that are now almost perfectly resolved. Extremely long, polished and mineral finish of the kind you expect from Grand Cru red Burgundy with some age. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling, January 2022

“Plenty of spiciness to the hibiscus, ripe-cherry, strawberry, oyster, mushroom and earth aromas. Smoky, too. Full and dense. Then it changes to dried cherries with some citrus, closing up nicely with freshness and intensity. Needs time to open. First bottling of this. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Better after 2024.” – James Suckling, October 2022

Certification: Organic

Alcohol: 14.0%

Variety: Pinot Noir

Region: Wairarapa, New Zealand

Tasting Note: A finely detailed and highly limited Pinot Noir from James and Marie Suckling’s Mirae vineyard in Martinborough. Sourced from rare ungrafted Pinot Noir vines predominantly planted in 1986, this wine expresses the clarity, perfume and structure that make Martinborough so distinctive. The wine is vibrant and site-driven, with purity of fruit, fine texture and a quietly savoury edge.

Winemaking: Spontaneously fermented with indigenous yeasts, including a destemmed parcel and a partial whole-cluster ferment in open-top bins. The wine was matured in amphorae and four-year-old 225L French oak barrels, preserving freshness and site expression while adding subtle texture and complexity.

A rich and complete Premier Cru Pinot Noir from Volnay in Burgundy. Clos de la Barre is a Monopole (i.e. exclusively owned by Jadot). Grown in a real clos that is surrounded by high stone walls, it produces a more assertive wine than other Volnays, with ethereal spice and mineral tannins detailed amongst slightly richer, riper fruit. With serious character, this powerful and structured wine is built to improve with age. This is a superb offering from Louis Jadot.

Appellation : VOLNAY

Colour : Red.

Surface area for this appellation : 2ha.00are.23

Grape variety : Pinot noir.

Average age of the vines : 25 years old.

Situation : 5 plots. Top and bottom of the slope. South/east.

Soil / Undergroud: Chalky-clay. Deep soil.

Cultivation : Ploughed. No weedkillers used. No chemical fertilizers used.

Harvest : Manual + Sorting table.

Vinification : Open vats. From about 15 to 20 days.

Ageing : 18 months in oak barrels. 25 % new oak.

Bottling : At our Domain.

Kotinga is one of four single vineyard Pinot Noirs made by Ata Rangi from 2020; a great year which was dry and warm with a long autumn and was also the first time single vineyard wines were produced in this way. 

This bright fruit scented wine is made from the Dijon Pinot Noir clones of 115, 667 and 777, which give it aromas of cherry, red currant and plum stone, which set the scene on the nose. The palate opens with a flourish of supple tannins uplifted with fluid acidity. Flavours of grapefruit and juniper spread through to the end of the palate.

Aged in a 2280 litre foudre (very large oak barrel) instead of the traditional 228 litre barrique, to highlight and retain the bright crunchy qualities of Dijon clones grown on gravels. This is a delightful wine and unique expression of Martinborough that is playful now and will also reward cellaring.

Botanical notes, blood, umami, and hints of brown sugar and bran. With time, the young oak will integrate seamlessly, unveiling layers of cedar-like Canadian maple, savory tobacco, walnut oil, and sage leaf. A spice box of depth and complexity
awaits, echoing the essence of our earlier wines. The texture recalls our clay soils; while the minerality from stones may be subtle, it frames the wine’s length and serves as the skeleton beneath the fruit. There’s a grunt of dehydrated zest and a
flourish of blossom flowers. Picture it in shades of blue rather than red—absolutely gorgeous.

95+pts – Wine Advocate
95pts – The Real Review

Tasting Note

A little shy on first reveal, but then the deeply bound fruit and complexing aromatics begin to unfold. Powerful, deep and saturating – what we have come to expect from MacMuir. The unmistakeable Felton Road winemaking hand contains the package allowing it to gradually deliver, exposing layer upon layer. The site is special – a hedonistic wine that’s brooding, formidable and unique.

 Introduction 

Commencing with meticulous site selection and vineyard design in 1991, Felton Road's story is one of refusal to compromise. A strict 100% estate policy with fully organic and biodynamic viticulture (BioGro and Demeter certified) ensures that our fruit arrives at the winery as pure as it can be, while our entire estate comes as close to true sustainability as is possible. The winery is also B Corp certified and a proud member of IWCA (International Wineries for Climate Action). A commitment to hands off winemaking: gravity flow, wild yeasts, wild malo, an avoidance of fining and filtration all help preserve the wine's expression of its terroir. The result is Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which accurately express the authenticity and complexity of our unique vineyards.  

Gareth King; Viticulturist, Blair Walter; Winemaker, Nigel Greening; Vigneron. 

Vineyard & Viticulture

Felton Road farms four properties totalling 34 ha in the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago. This wine is from MacMuir vineyard which is just 1 km east of the Elms vineyard and winery, and just 300m west of Calvert. The vineyard possesses a higher vine density, a diverse range of clones and deep, heavy silt soils. Meticulous summer management of a single vertical shoot positioned (VSP) canopy ensures even and early fruit maturity. Shoot thinning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking, bunch thinning and harvest are all carried out by hand to ensure optimum quality fruit. Cover crops are planted between rows to assist in vine balance and to improve soil health and general biodiversity. 

Vintage After a wet September, spring commenced with good soil moisture and bud burst occurred at the normal time of early October. Temperatures hovered around average with December being warm and dry, enabling a successful flowering and fruit set. The dry conditions prevailed throughout January and February limiting berry size and setting the scene for fruit with elevated phenolic material and complexity. Judicious use of irrigation was required to maintain sufficient vine health throughout this sustained dry period. Temperatures never spiked and hovered around average enabling a slow and steady path to maturity. A distinctive feature of March 2024 was the cool night temperatures preserving acidity, freshness and precision of fruit character. Pinot Noir was harvested from 19 March to 9 April.

Vinification  The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, retaining 30% as whole clusters. Traditional fermentation with a moderately long maceration on skins has extracted good colour and tannin with considerable depth of flavour. This wine was aged for 13 months in 20% new French oak barrels from artisan Burgundian coopers. In accordance with our non-interventionalist approach to winemaking, this wine was fermented with indigenous yeast and malolactic, and was not fined or filtered.

Greystone is one of North Canterbury's wine stars situated on the slopes of limestone rich hills in Omihi. All of the grapes that go into Greystone wines are 100% certified organic with BioGro NZ and all are estate grown. No additional fruit is purchased to supplement production, which is one of many incremental steps that go into Greystone's high quality wines. 

This impressive Pinot Noir is the top of the Pinot tree at Greystone. It's made from fully destemmed whole berries which were cold macerated and fermented with wild yeasts, 25% of the wine having been fermented in small tanks amongst the vines, which ensures a completely wild vineyard yeast fermentation. The wine is bottled without fining, filtration or cold stabilisation.

It drinks well now but will reward those with patience to wait for it to develop further with age and has the potential to evolve positively for up to a decade, if kept in good conditions. 

Certified organic with BioGro NZ.

About Greystone

The Greystone wine story began in 2000 when the Thomas Family bought an old sheep farm on the Omihi hills in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. The rolling limestone hills lured this family in and their goal was a single minded one: to make great wines from the limestone rich soils here. Fast forward 20 years and Greystone is one of the great (and, some might say, yet to be fully discovered) wineries in this outstanding wine region. Not least due to the work of winemaker Dom Maxwell and general manager Nick Gill, who began working together in 2005 and has grown along with the brand and quality.