Top value big buttery Chardonnay, full of appealing creamy malolactic flavours and buttery aromas adding softness, richness and depth to this intensely powerful Chardonnay, which represents fab value for money.

Clearview Estate founder and winemaker Tim Turvey has made some of Hawke's Bay best Chardonnays for decades and this big softie puts the big buttery foot forward for the world's most popular dry white wine. 

About Clearview Estate

Clearview Estate is one of oldest, most well established wineries in Hawke's Bay and is situated on the Te Awanga Coast, south of Napier. It's a great place to visit for tastings at the cellar door as well as lunch in the dappled shade of the established courtyard area. The winery was founded by Tim Turvey, winemaker and co-owner. The current winemaker is the multi talented Matt Kirby.

Sensational certified organic Marlborough Pinot Noir with dark fruit flavours, elegant structure and a spicy style. All grapes in this wine were hand picked and 20% were whole bunch fermented in large French oak with no crushing. Light extraction is the aim, says winemaker Damien Yvon, who gave the wine less than three weeks of total post ferment maceration time. The finished wine was then aged for 12 months in French oak, 20% of which was new – a relatively modest amount, which allows the fruit to be hero in this wine. It is a beautifully refined, silky and elegant Pinot Noir.

Clos Henri began 22 years ago in Marlborough when the French Bourgeois family expanded their winemaking from the heart of Sancerre in the tiny village of Chavignol to Blenheim, in 2001. Now that their vines are 22 years of age , the family feels that they are only now starting to reflect and express the taste of the land. This family retains their land and winemaking in Chavignol where they have made wine for 11 generations.

Aromas of rich Black Doris plum, fresh blackberry and Xmas spices, with a hint of sweet French oak. Powerful yet elegant and precise in the mouth showing perfume, spice and dark ripe fruit. The tannins are ripe and chalky and balance beautifully with the intense fruit and spicy seam that runs through the wine. It is vibrant and youthful with an elegant acid backbone that lends itself to wonderful aging potential.

Our grapes were grown on a hillside vineyard with views over the Tukituki river, and old riverbed vineyards, inland of Has-tings. In 2020, we had a very warm, dry and settled season. A warm summer and a dry Autumn produced some stunning Hawke’s Bay wines. The yields were kept low to maximise colour and intensity and come from MS, 470 and Limmer clones of Syrah that each offer a unique expression.

Most of the fruit was completely destemmed into open top tanks and left to sit for up to seven days until it began to fer-ment. We have included a small portion of whole bunch to offer greater structure and increased floral aromatics. We initially pumped over or plunged gently and then with gusto as it fermented. Primary ferment lasted for around eleven days, then the wine was held on skins for up to a total of 25 days. It was pressed and run to the cellar to be aged in French oak barriques through winter before it went through malolactic fermentation in spring. The wine was then rested until blending on the 3rd June 2022, before bottling unfined.

Sourced from Pisa and Bannockburn, our Central Otago Rosé is dry, light-bodied and crisp, with fresh strawberry, raspberry and a hint of grapefruit.

Tasting Note: Dry, light and crisp, this rosé offers subtle notes of fresh strawberry, raspberry and grapefruit.

This Pinot Noir highlights the distinctive character of New Zealand’s southernmost wine-growing region. Produced in limited quantities, it captures the essence of Alexandra’s dramatic climate, with lifted aromatics, bright acidity, and an elegant, finely woven structure.

Tasting Note: This Pinot Noir displays notes of strawberries, blackberries, red flowers and cinnamon spice. On the palate, it is elegant with very fine tannins.

95 Points - Cameron Douglas, MS
"Excellent" - Mark Henderson, Otago Daily Times
94 Points - Stephen Wong, MW
94 Points - Candice Chow

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 Dry, medium-bodied and luscious, with pronounced notes of fresh yellow apple and pear, white peach, melon and honeysuckle.

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: 22.3

Fermentation: 80% stainless steel and 20% neutral French oak

Aging: Four months in stainless steel Cases

Winemaker Paul Pujol is a dab hand at making this pale light bodied red from Pinot Noir. This refreshing lighter take on Pinot Noir has flavours of red berries, spice, excellent freshness and a long finish. 

Limited skin contact, wild yeast fermentation and no secondary fermentation has resulted in an intense, red cherry laced wine with fresh acidity and brightness. 

This is made to be served lightly chilled. 

TASTING NOTES
Aromas of ripe dark berry fruits dominate the nose with hints of spice and mocha notes in the background add complexity. Rich yet soft tannins form the backbone of this succulent and vibrant Pinot Noir. Spice flavours come through on the mid palate along with ripe dark cherry flavours and underlying savoury notes. This is a superbly balanced, elegant and weighted Pinot capable of ageing for up to ten years.

THE VINEYARD
This family owned and operated vineyard is on an old river terrace at the south end of Te Muna Valley. The stony soils with an underlay of limestone, a gentle north facing slope and exposure to westerly winds produce low volume crops of high intensity.

VINIFICATION
All fruit was carefully hand-picked over two vineyard passes. In the winery we destemmed all fruit and fermented in 3T open top tanks. The wine spent between 21 and 23 days on skins including punching down by hand once a day, before being pressed to French oak barrels. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation in barrel and remained on its lees for ten months before racking, blending and bottling. Indigenous yeasts are used which add to the wine’s complexity in addition to traditional methods of punching down the ferments by hand.

2024 ORATERRA CHARDONNAY

SEASON BRIEF FOR 2024 The 2024 season was a contrast to 2023, coming with a sting - or in this case, a grand finale - at the end. It was a splendid season, and the general feeling is that 2024 will be remembered alongside 2013, 2001 and 1998 as an outstanding year. A cool and turbulent spring meant that the fruit set was reduced, and thus the potential yield at harvest was down too. However, summer conditions were nothing short of amazing, the sun was out in full force, with very little rainfall. The key to the success was our vineyard management this year by keeping ample shade and leaf cover to lower vineyard temperatures and conserve water. The extended warm and dry weather periods resulted in wines that have retained freshness with good generosity. 

TASTING NOTE We are so impressed with this wine. It was a remarkable vintage for ripening and acid retention; to be honest, from the moment we picked it, we had a good feeling about the potential of this Chardonnay. It was never going to disappoint. Fruit dominance is seen in kumquat, cut meadow flowers, buttercups and chalk. None, perhaps, is typical for Chardonnay, but so characteristic of ours. The wine moves steeply and swiftly over the palate like a river, with amazing textures and shapes. The acid is a solid levee, guiding the wine and giving it direction. However, its full-bodied nature wants to spill over the sides, filling the mouth from front to back and forward again like a wave, full of energy. Ageing: Age for 8-10 years to reach its peak. Enjoy at a temperature of 16°C - 18°C. 

WINEMAKING Hand-harvested fruit was pressed the following day, chilled. After a light settling, the juice was racked into foudres (1000 litres wooden casks) for a spontaneous ferment. Spring malolactic fermentation started naturally in October/November and finished in early 2025. The wine remained in these foudres, on lees, for 18 months. It was then transferred to tank and bottled without fining or filtration in December 2025.

Arneis and Pinot Gris sourced from the Dolce Vista vineyard. Hand harvested Arneis barrel fermented and aged. Pinot Gris fermented on skins and then pressed to seasoned oak. Blended and bottled after 12 months in barrel. Delicate white flowers and peach, intense citrus with minerality and rich texture.

The first thing you will notice is the intense aroma of this wine with notes of citrus and tropical fruits. These flavours follow through on the palate, where the wild fermentation in barrel adds great weight and texture to the wine.

Akitu A2 Pinot Noir is an approachable and complex Pinot Noir made from three different Pinot clones which receive 35% whole bunch fermentation and a modest 7% new French oak in the maturation process. This makes for a smooth but subtle softness in a lush Pinot, which Akitu owner Andrew Donaldson suggests matching with Peking duck pancakes. Hear hear. Any duck would flatter this wine’s lush flavours, for that matter. Volumes: 1096 cases were produced and the wine was bottled on 19 March 2020.

The home of Akitu 

Andrew Donaldson planted his vineyard with 100% Pinot Noir in 2002 and has since developed three distinctive styles of wine from this great red grape variety. Two reds (Akitu A 1 and Akitu A2) lead the production while a Pinot Blanc is now part of the high quality stable of wines from this producer. 

Donaldson employs winemaker P J Charteris to make the wines. 

At Mt Barker, in New Zealand's South Island, in a high glacial valley of sunshine and rain shadow on the edge of the earth, each season leave its own vivid imprint on our vintage.  Extreme temperature variations, alpine air, altitude, adversity... all the wild elements of this exhilarating land combine in a Pinot Noir of great quality from the world's southernmost wine region.

A cracking sparkler from Marlborough's Cloudy Bay. This has more weight and fruit sweetness than the standard Pelorus thanks to a higher percentage Pinot and offers strawberry and biscuit elements on the nose and palate. 

94/100 Bob Campbell
“Reasonably deep copper colour. Full-flavoured wine with hints of biscuit and strawberry. Dry, but not austere, with a rich texture and lengthy finish. Classy sparkler with character.”