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.

A  very aromatic Pinot Gris with a nose exhibiting quince, dough, pear apple and cream. The palate is rich and intense with flavours of pork fat, apple and stone ruit - brought together in a bright acid frame.

Hawke's Bay winemaker Grant Edmonds sources the Albarino grapes in this stunning wine from the Bridge Pa area of Hawke's Bay and wow, what a wine. 

Fresh, crisp, intensely flavoursome and every sip lingers, thanks to the Albarino grape's naturally high acidity which provides great flavour memory here. This is a stellar new addition to Edmonds' Redmetal wine brand.

Delicious and succulent in every sip. 

Great ripe, juicy new Hawke's Bay Syrah from maverick winemaker Rod McDonald, whose love affair with Syrah shows in this full bodied red made from a mix of French clones and was made traditionally with the grapes going through a cold soak to extract colour before natural fermentation kicked off eventually building up to a strong, hot ferment.

McDonald describes this wine as having beautiful, lifted floral notes and a lovely punchy mouthful of fruit and earth.  Bright and vibrant with aromas of raspberries, violets and nutmeg. Silky with great balance and a fine structure. 

Winery's notes...

A stylish Hawke's Bay blend that has chartered our way, a wine with a strong character and a strong following. Blended from the best blocks from our estate, we use a variety of clones, each block fermented then matured in oak barrels as stand alone parcels. After 12 months initial maturation, each barrel was tasted and scored with only the best making the cut for The Navigator. Softly concentrated with deep and dense aromas of plush red fruits, cocoa, spice and cedar, the palate is medium-full bodied with rich and succulent flavours. 

The long finish and fine tannins make this an ideal accompaniment for your beef dishes, richly flavoured foods and cheeses. 

Merlot 34%, Cabernet Sauvignon 31%, Cabernet Franc 19%, Malbec 16%

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.

Testify is the top red wine from Decibel and this one is a dark, juicy and spicy red made from a blend of Malbec and Merlot. This powerhouse wine spent 20 months in new oak, which flatters its ripe fruit flavours from 2019, a warm dry and sunny years when grapes got super ripe and juicy. This wine is a serious contender for ageing but it is also an impressive full bodied, dry red wine right now. Oak sits nicely in this wine, without intruding on the ripe fruit flavours. 

Clean and crisp, dry Pinot Gris from Marlborough that is predominantly fermented in stainless steel to preserve the bright green fruit flavours, but also has a portion that is fermented in barrel to provide texture and complexity. Five months on the lees also gives the wine further flavour and builds texture in the wine, adding weight and complex, smooth and notes of creamy flavour. 

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. 

The grapes in this wine come from the Yarrum Vineyard on the Brancott/Ben Morven ridge, a hillside from which all grapes are hand harvested and fermented with wild yeasts and daily plunging. This rich, dark, full bodied and flavoursome Pinot Noir has huge structure and ability to age, with earthy notes and ripe dark fruit flavours. This is one of Marlborough’s top Pinot Noirs. Worthy of a decanter, a large glass and time to enjoy its complexity.

Earthy flavours and velvety texture make this impressive Pinot Noir one of the best from Martinborough and it comes from one of the region's first three wineries - Martinborough Vineyards.

Te Tera is made from Martinborough Vineyards’ more youthful vines, which range between nine and 24 years old from a vineyard south of Martinborough village but within the region's stony wine 'terrace' appellation. This vineyard, situated on Frater's Road, produces grapes that lend deep aromatic flavours of dark cherries,  dried herbs and spices, all of which instantly grab your attention on the nose of this elegant Pinot Noir. The palate shows soft, rich fruit flavours with a hint of spice. 

The grapes in this wine were 100% destemmed and fermented with wild yeasts in open top tanks for approximately three weeks. Hand plunging is followed by gentle pressing to barrels for 10 months aging on lees in French oak, 15% of it new. 

This is a lovely wine that consistently delivers rewarding rich flavours held in a smooth silky texture. 

Elegant Chablis-like Chardonnay with creamy notes and balancing acidity due to the cool climate of Central Otago's Inlet Vineyard in Bannockburn. Grapes in this wine were picked in two lots with the first pressed directly to barrel and the second lot left overnight then whole bunch pressed to barrel where they were fermented with wild yeasts and stirred weekly to encourage flavour integration from lees (yeast cells from fermentation) contact. The wine was aged in French oak, just 16% of it new and then bottled unfined but filtered.

Purity of ripe grapefruit, lemon and limes all intermingle in this bold and beautifully balanced expression of Riesling from Craighall Vineyard in Martinborough. This is one of the best Rieslings in the country and will absolutely improve with ageing for up to a decade, potentially longer in a cool dark cellar. 

Precious little of this lovely Gamay was made from a vineyard of just 1386 vines of Gamay in Northburn, Central Otago. This equates to 0.33 hectare. What this wine lacks in volume, it more than makes up for in high quality.
It?s a wonder that Gamay is only just beginning to be recognised as the plush little sister to Pinot Noir and here is another small volume, top notch example from Central Otago, which proves the point with its lush mouth feel and lively fresh dark fruit flavours.