Albarino is a grape from the Galicia region in Spain. It is known for making fairly pale, high acid wines with distinctive aromatic stone-fruit qualities. This is a new varietal for North Canterbury, which has shown promising results for this grape. The nose on this wine is rich with classic stone-fruit, spice and citrus notes. The palate is concentrated and juicy, with great acid brightness.

Winemaker Rudi Bauer uses winemaking techniques very much in keeping with the practices of the Old World, with an obvious nod to Pinot's spiritual home in Burgundy.

The results are a deep, warm wine with inviting perfumed ripe pinot aromatics, both stylish and emotional. The palate is vibrant and lively with great body and spicy minerality that holds defined tannins of Bendigo intensity.

Terrace Edge is a family owned, certified organic winery based in the Waipara Valley wine growing region. This Syrah has a nose of ripe blackberry and plum with notes of liquorice and spice. The palate is rich with dark fruit, supported by elegant ripe tannins.

Terrace Edge was named the New Zealand Organic Vineyard of the Year in 2018 and this year was named Aotearoa New Zealand Organic Winery of the Year.

Vinification

All fruit is estate grown organically, with the majority of the clone being Mendoza. All our Chardonnay is hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed,
but they are lightly crushed first, this allows the juice to be extracted at very low pressures. Each parcel of fruit is kept separate and vinified and aged
individually. The juice is allowed to oxidise pre-ferment which makes the final wine more vibrant, long-lived and intensely flavoured as finished wine.
All parcels take most of the lees from pressing to barrel for wild fermentation and are aged in French oak with 25% being new. To keep the structure of
this wine, we allowed only 50% of the barrels to go through spontaneous malolactic fermentation, with no battonage. The total time in barrel is about
10 months before being combined into one blend in mid-February, The wine stays in stainless steel tank for 6 months on lees which allows for the acid
to become precisely defined and adds texture - then finished with no fining and only gentle filtration.

Wine
Green gold with silver flecks.
Aromas of grapefruit, orange zest, grilled white stonefruits, chared applewood with underlying peach blossom and oystershell.
Fresh citrus dominates with crunchy nectarine, crystalized pineapple, sweet baking spice and a saline minerality in support. A fine acid structure is
coated with a silky texture to give a long complex finish.

Waimanu Pinot Noir has savoury flavours of freshly picked mushrooms and a firm backbone of fresh acidity and smooth tannins. The grapes in this wine benefit from hot days, cool nights and more than anyone's fair share of wind - as they grow on North Canterbury’s most western vineyard where wind is frequent and harsh, creating a drying environment. Smooth, silky flavours of intensely concentrated ripe cherries and complex earthy spice aromas of cardamon, nutmeg and hints of smoky flavours.  

Lifted aromas of fresh cut culinary herbs, white flowers, lavender and lemon curd, with nuances of nutty spicy oak. As the wine opens, aromas of hazelnut, lilac, jasmine, white peach and orange blossom emerge. The palate is super intense and beautifully defined. Complex fruit aromas mingle with savoury depth, as the palate is driven by bright citrus line and length. The tightness and power to the finish is outstanding. There is a delightfully fine texture, beautiful acid thread and super fine phenolics on the finish. Power, intensity, elegance and grace. Cellar 6-12 years.

Amisfield Winery is based in Pisa while its beautiful cellar door shop and restaurant overlook Lake Hayes, just outside of Queenstown.

This winery makes a more diverse range of whites than most in Central Otago and the Pinot Gris is a light bodied, refreshing expression of this white grape from a cool climate. Spice, fresh fruit and a long finish all make this an extremely good quality Pinot Gris.

Ripe citrus aromas of navel orange and peach, a medley of nougat and vanilla notes to add to the complexity and interest on the nose. A silky attack with sweet fruit flavours of peach and navel orange in the rich textural mid palate and with hints of nougat and vanilla balanced with fine oak and lingering citrus finish. - Paritua ALCOHOL: 13.5%

Rays Road is Kumeu River’s new vineyard site in Hawkes Bay. This limestone hillside is at 180 m altitude, with a northerly aspect. It is dry-farmed to yield high quality grapes for wine under the Rays Road name for our Kumeu River label.  This Chardonnay was hand-harvested, whole bunch pressed and fermented with wild yeast in older French Oak barrels to give a wine that is zesty and fragrant, with mineral complexity that is very true to its site.

This tasty dry Riesling comes from the beautiful windswept vineyard owned by Craggy Range in the sweepingly stunning Te Muna Road in Martinborough. 

The grapes in this wine were 100% whole bunch pressed and fermented in a  combination of stainless steel and large oak cuves with 100% innoculated yeasts.

The wine was matured for four months before bottling. It's fresh, youthful, vibrant and zingy with intense lime and green apple flavour notes, a medium body and long finish. It drinks beautifully now and will age superbly for at least five to six years. 

From Marlboroughs' Ukrainian wine making duo Alina Tenetka & Masha, bringing their experience from Europe to make really elegant wines out of different sites in Marlborough, teasing the potential out of grapes in ways we don't often see in New Zealand wines. These wines are full of poise, elegance & are hot off the lips of many a wine critic. 

When Alina turned up with her wines at Regional's we were taken aback, why hadn't we heard of this any sooner? The wines all were a departure from the styles New Zealand had previously offered & placed themselves in some of the best examples of each variety they make that NZ has to offer!

Region: Lower Wairau Valley, Marlborough

The Story
Viognier is a winemaker’s gamble, a fussy grape that rewards patience with aromatic opulence. We aimed to capture its rich, silken texture, a contrast to the sharp-edged Marlborough whites. Our goal was to coax out its exotic perfume, creating a wine of texture and grace—like sunshine woven into a golden thread.

Tastes Like
Lush Apricot, ripe Peach skin, and fragrant Honeysuckle, with a rich, textural palate that finishes with a hint of toasty oak.

Pair With
Sublime with Moroccan chicken tagine, creamy lobster risotto, or a cheese board featuring soft, pungent cheeses like Epoisses or Taleggio.

For the Geeks

Bathed in sunlight, this ideal site allows our Viognier to ripen perfectly. We harvest in two distinct stages: an initial pick for crisp, natural acidity, followed by a later pass for the grape's full, aromatic bloom. Fermented and aged on fine lees in seasoned French barrels for 10 months. Complex, powerful, and elegantly refined.

Residual Sugar: 3.2 g/L (Dry)
Acidity (TA): 7.1 g/L
pH: 3.37
Alcohol: 14.2%

Accolades: Cam Douglas MS - 95 points Outstanding

Koparepare Chardonnay shows just how excellent Marlborough's second most planted grape can be. It's creamy, refreshing, full bodied and offers great value for money. 

A portion of the sale of every bottle of Koparepare wines goes to support  LegaSea, a not for profit organisation set up by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council in 2012 to raise awareness of the marine environment and inspire public support.

Whitehaven Wines was founded by Greg and Sue White in 1994 after they sailed into the Marlborough Sounds to shelter from a storm in the early 1990s and fell for the natural beauty of the region and the haven it provided. So they decided to take the next natural step - set up a winery back on dry land, naming it, naturally enough, Whitehaven.

Pinot Gris is the fourth most planted grape in New Zealand with a massive 2,488 hectares nationwide, inching slowly up to Chardonnay’s 3,167 hectares. It’s huge growth from just 157 hectares of Pinot Gris as recently as 2001, but numbers aside, it’s the taste that counts and Greywacke is next level in flavour. 

The grapes in this wine are from the Wrekin Terrace Vineyard in Brancott Valley where they grow on gravel over clay-loam soils, typical of the Southern Valleys in Marlborough. Three clones of Pinot Gris were all hand picked separately at high ripeness levels to provide rich fruity flavours in the finished wine, which was fermented in a combo of old French oak barriques and stainless steel tanks, all with wild yeasts to a finished 14.4% ABV with 10 grams per litre of residual sugar. 

Fresh, full bodied, off dry and intensely concentrated; one for the large glass on a decadent spring evening.