Commercial description

The Drinking
Bright, fresh, varietal and attractive bouquet with a pure fruit core of white fleshed stone fruits then citrus, some floral notes then sweet oak. Nice weight and texture from occasional barrel stirring and a mix of seasoned and new oak, hazel nut, with some macadamia and vanilla in the background. Fine dusty wood tannins keep the texture flowing while acidity and alcohol carry flavour through to a lengthy finish.
— Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier (The Shout Magazine, Sept 2021)

The Growing
This was a hot and dry vintage with almost zero rain right through summer. Dry farming practices since planting day, along with being herbicide free under vine, has encouraged the vine roots to grow deep into the sandy Esk River loam in search of water and nutrients, giving a more expressive wine with intensely flavoured smaller berries. A 70/30 mix of two clones; 548 and 95, this wine will only improve with careful cellaring for another 6+ years.

The Making
Hand picked grapes were gently whole bunch pressed before some of the juice was pumped direct from the juice tray into barrels and the rest was settled over night. It was then transferred into a mix of 20% new and seasoned French barriques and hogsheads and fermented with indigenous yeast. Post primary ferment, barrel stirring commenced every so often, to keep the yeast in suspension, adding a layer of complexity and imparting some yeasty goodness. The wine was barrel aged on lees for 11 months and malolactic fermentation happened naturally, with no fining and minimal sulphur added prior to bottling.

Winemaker David Clouston blended grapes from The Spring and Brookby Hill vineyards to make this full bodied, creamy, big Chardonnay, which was fermented using indigenous yeasts with lees stirring and full malolactic fermentation.

Maturation for 11 months aging in new and seasoned French oak barrels as well as a concrete egg adds smoothness and savoury flavours to this wine, which was bottled unfiltered. 

If you're a fan of big buttery styles of Chardonnay, try this taste sensation from Marlborough.

A cheeky ‘chilled red’. Born out of the heartbreaking 2023 vintage in Hawkes Bay, Franco is the lighter, textural iteration of our Howell Vineyard Bridge Pa Cabernet Franc.

Still wishing to support our growers and the region during this difficult time, yet understanding that our ‘house’ style of Cabernet Franc would not suffice, we decided to create a delicious, prettier, chilled version (12%) - ‘Franco’. Garnet in colour. Brimming with notes of earthy wild strawberries. The palate is highly textural, and soft, finishing with bucket loads of flavour and warmth. Serve chilled.

Howell Vineyard, Bridge Pa Hawkes Bay. Red metal soils, densly planted with 27 year old vines at 2315 vines /ha.

A very challenging season. A moderate spring and average temperatures for ripening. Several significant rain events occured toward the end of summer, and the wet conditions continued into Autumn.

The fruit was machine harvested and delivered to the winery. It was destemmed into a small open top fermenter. Once fermentation began, naturally, it was innoculated and plunged twice daily. After fermentation finished it remained on skins for a further week prior to being gently pressed off. It remained in both stainless steel and neutral oak for 8 months and was filtered prior to bottling. Bottled unfined.

Kin by Te Kano is a quintessential expression of Central Otago Chardonnay. Made with sustainably farmed grapes from our Estate vineyards, Kin references the family ownership and Kowhai regeneration project that stand at the heart of our philosophy and provides an easy-drinking and delicious introduction into the Te Kano range.

Impressively juicy Cabernet Franc from Hawke's Bay winemaker Jenny Dobson, who has extensive experience making wine from this great grape in Bordeaux, France. She applies her knowledge and winemaking skills of wild yeast, whole bunches in the ferment and foot plunging (her own feet) to coax the best from this full bodied, deep purple Cabernet Franc.

It's named after her aunt Francie and made as a tribute to her. 

Dobson describes this wine has tasting of red roses, spicy raspberries and scented velvet. 

This compact and convenient little half bottle contains Astrolabe Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, one of New Zealand's great classic dry whites. 

Winemaker Simon Waghorn brings grapes together from three sub regions of Marlborough to make this dry, full bodied style of Sauvignon Blanc. Vineyards in the Wairau Valley, Awatere Valley and Kekerengu Coast (the most southern of Marlborough's vineyards) all combine to make this succulent dry wine with its ripe flavours of tropical fruit balanced by green notes. 

All grapes are machine harvested at night or in the cool parts of the day to preserve the purity and intensity of flavours. WInemaker Simon Waghorn blends to suit what he thinks is Astrolabe’s style, which reflects what he has learnt as a winemaker and drinker over the years. This means he aims to create a Sauvignon that tastes dry, expressive and elegantly balanced with flavours of passionfruit, blackcurrant leaf and gooseberry. 

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters. 

Whole bunch fermented blend of Riesling and Pinot Gris, which spent the first part of their wine journey in amphora with two months of skin contact, which results in the orange hue in this lovely refreshing dry wine. Softly white wine with grip and aromatic appeal, which ticks the vegan box. 

Certified organic  

The organic story at Seresin

One of the greatest things about Seresin Estate is the organic certification. This came relatively early on for Seresin, who was dismayed by the amount used and the impacts of man made chemicals, which were routinely and frequently sprayed on vines. His early adopting philosophy of organic certification paved a positive path for the integrity of the wines as well as leading others to follow suit.

Our best value pink bubbly and made from Pinot Noir grapes grown in the Northern Wairarapa at Matahiwi Estate vineyards. Free run juice was used to make this dry, flavoursome sparkling wine; tank fermentation provides depth of bubbles and a yeasty freshness, which adds complex flavours. 

Valli Riesling is inspired by the great whites of the Mosel Valley in Germany. Winemaker Grant Taylor describes this vintage as having flavours of freshly squeezed lime juice, Granny Smith apple with hints of chalk and jasmine flower. 

Valli Wines was founded by Central Otago winemaker Grant Taylor in 1998 and has since become one of the most collectible Pinot Noir brands in New Zealand with four distinctly different Pinot Noirs made every year from four key sub regions in Central Otago. Grant is the only winemaker producing a consistently diverse range of wines every vintage with each wine made the same way so that the wines each express the climate and soil variations in the areas from which they come from.

Established in 1864 by Jean Désiré Féraud, Monte Christo is the birthplace of Central Otago wine. Our wines are made with 100% estate-grown fruit sourced from our vineyards across three distinct sub-regions, the Alexandra Basin, Bannockburn and Pisa. Utilising sustainable farming practices and minimal intervention methods in the winery, the outcome is elegant, refined, and impeccably balanced wines epitomising the terroir of Central Otago.

Tasting note An elegant yet complex Chardonnay with fresh lemon, green pear, white peach, hawthorn flowers, river rock and subtle baking spices.

VINEYARDS Vineyard: Davishon (69%) 

Subregion: Alexandra Basin 

Elevation: 160m 

Clone(s): 6, Mystery clone 

Soil: Blackmans alluvial sand, silt and gravels derived from schist and sandstone

WINEMAKING 

Brix: 21.6 

Fermentation: Wild yeasts in 72%  neutral oak and 28% stainless steel, 100% malolactic  

Aging: 11 months in 72% neutral French oak, 28% stainless steel