If dark and broody with loads of black cherry and dried herb aromas sounds like a wine you'd love to drink, buy this beautiful Pinot Noir from the Inlet Vineyard in Bannockburn, Central Otago. 

This 5.25 hectare site is situated 225 to 245 metres above sea level where the grapes' growing season is extended thanks to the elevation, which provides cool nights as a foil to the hot days here. 

Flavours of structured dark fruit combine with firm tannins and a long life ahead.

The wine was aged in French oak and bottled unfined.

Located on the north facing slopes of the Brancott Valley, Clayvin Vineyard takes its unique name from the clay based soil profile that lies beneath the vineyard. The complex clay profile varies across the vineyard, allowing a number of different varieties to be grown, including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The clay soil gives our Clayvin Pinot Noirs richness and generosity and an immediately appealing soft texture.

High density planting allows for very low yields per vine. Low yielding vines tend to produce wines of great concentration and richness.

This vineyard consistently produces grapes of outstanding quality.

The name Opawa means smoky river in Maori and this lovely light to medium bodied Pinot Noir is named after the old Opawa River. Flavours of earthy smokey notes are supported by fresh wild red berry aromas of strawberries, raspberries and plums. Supple silky acidity adds length to every tasty sip.  

Winemaker Clive Jones makes this wine was made from a range of vineyards in Marlborough. The grapes are cold soaked and fermented with indigenous yeast with the wine being pressed into French oak barriques for maturation, before being clarified and bottled.

Vineyard Sites - Cornerstone Vineyard lies at the heart of the renowned Gimblett Gravels viticultural region, strategically positioned at the junction of Gimblett Road and State Highway 50 in Hawke’s Bay. This area is celebrated as New Zealand’s premier Bordeaux red grape-growing region, and it’s easy to see why. The vineyard’s unique terroir, composed of riverbed stones and gravels, challenges the vines, leading them to produce a limited yield of small, intensely coloured, and flavourful berries. The resulting grapes give rise to wines with rich, mouth-filling tannins and a depth of character that speaks to the harsh yet rewarding growing conditions. 

Vinification - The grapes were carefully handpicked and fermented in small, open vats. Traditional hand-plunging techniques were used to gently extract the rich flavours and colour. After fermentation, the wine underwent varying degrees of post-ferment skin contact to enhance complexity before being pressed off. The wine then proceeded to malolactic fermentation and was aged in French oak barriques, with 30% of the barrels being new, adding subtle layers of oak influence and refinement. 

Tasting Notes - Boasting an inky, deep ruby hue, this wine offers aromas of stewed red fruits, hints of raspberry jam, black cherry, black plum, and violets. Subtle light cedar and toast are so well knitted you almost miss them. On the palate, flavours of cooked red plum and hints of tobacco emerge.  The finish is long, with fruit carrying right through. An outstanding wine, perfect to drink now or age.

This is the first fruit from the new Dicey Syrah vines and the results are impressive.

The fruit was all destemmed and fermented with indigenous yeast and received 21 days on the skins with had daily punch downs. The wine spent 10 months in neutral oak and went through natural malolactic fermentation.

The nose is bright and expressive with boysenberry, blackcurrant and elegant violet notes leading to a palate that is supple, lithe and lightly structured. 

Whitehaven Wines began life in 1994 as a romantic business for a couple of corporate escapees, Sue and Greg White, who had given up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht. When sailing around the country, they took shelter in the Marlborough Sounds from Pacific storms and fell in love with the region. An easy thing to do when harbouring in the spectacularly pristine waters of the Sounds. They decided to settle there on terra firma once more and try their hands at wine production, hiring a winemaker and beginning a business which has now been around for 26 years. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery. Their winemaker is Peter Jackson.

Churton Pinot Noir  

WINEMAKING
The grapes were 100% handpicked and gravity fed into open top fermenters with 20% whole bunch inclusion. The skins were gently pumped over twice a day. The total time on skins was 21 days before being gently pressed off and matured in French oak for 16 months. The wine went through 100% malolactic fermentation in early spring before blending and bottling.


TASTING NOTES
On the nose fragrant and bright aromas of red liquorice, rose petals, dried spices, cranberries, cherries and blackberries. On the palate a core of wild strawberry and bramble fruits flavours is underpinned by silky tannins and fine acidity, with a long, crisp finish of slate and spice. This wine is concentrated but elegant.

Commercial Description

Our Ballochdale Vineyard in Marlborough is soul food for everyone who visits. its isolation, elevation and breath taking views simply fill you up. Our beautifully structured Sauvignon captures its special character with every sip. Flavours reminiscent of limes and nettle flowers with hints of green melon all wrapped around a  delicious acidity and natural fruit ripeness.

Close your eyes and think of warm sunshine and snowy mountain peaks. This wine takes you there.

Alpha Domus winery was founded in 1989 and its name is an anagram of the owners' names, Anthonius, Leonard, Paulus and Henrikus. Domus is Latin for home. 

They named this soft, chocolatey and plush Merlot after the classic 1932 Fox Moth aircraft, which helped open the world up to travel and adventure. This dry, smooth and full bodied red also opens up new worlds of flavour and shows why Merlot is the most planted red grape in Hawke's Bay - it works a treat there. 

Fresh, delicate aromas of almond, stone fruit with a hint of old oak. Cirrus is the rounder of the two Chardonnays with lovely ripe, textural tropical stone fruits wrapped with moreish, mouth-filling phenolics.

Barrel fermented Syrah with ripe black fleshy plum flavours, hints of baking spice (notes of cinnamon, ginger and cardamon) and a long, structured but smooth finish with ripe tannins and dry flavours. This wine is the jewel in Mission Estate's Syrah crown and is made from 100% Gimblett Gravels grapes.