Mat Donaldson and his talented winemaking team create this fabulous Riesling, which is modelled on the best full bodied wines from both Germany and Austria. It is made from grapes given a long hang time on the vines and is, consistently, one of New Zealand's greatest white wines every year, thanks to winemaker Mat Donaldson and his talented team of Riesling devotees at Pegasus Bay Winery in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. It is succulent, medium dry, concentrated and rich in taste with a honeyed texture and and notes of lemongrass, lemon zest and ripe mandarins leading into a full bodied, weighty, off dry white with high but balanced acidity providing a long finish.

* This wine may form a natural sediment over time due to the winery's minimal handling philosophy. It has been cold stabilised by the winemaking team at Pegasus Bay.

The 2025 release clocks over a decade of crafting this irresistible, sun-soaked Albariño - still utterly moreish, still mouthwatering, still our unofficial taste of summer.

Think warm evenings, bare feet, and salt on your skin.
A lifted nose of lime zest, sea spray and that first breath when you step onto the beach. The palate echoes the aromatics, woven together with bright, crystalline acidity that gives the wine its signature savoury edge.

Hints of oyster shell, fresh fennel and a cool, saline minerality glide through the glass, all wrapped in a dreamy, sun-drenched haze. There’s beautiful form here - poised, graceful, quietly luxurious.

Vineyard:

Site: Rosie’s Block - Upper Moutere, Nelson

Aspect: 90m Elevation, North Facing

Soil Type: Moutere Clay Gravels

Soil Composition: Deep sandy loam with clay content (19%). Little stone content.

Vineyard Established: 1999

Farming: Dry Farmed

Variety: 100% Albariño

Clonal Selection: 635, 636, 637

Hand Harvested: 100%

Seasonal Detail: The season began dry before shifting to a wetter-than-usual October, with an exceptionally warm December bringing ideal flowering conditions. While the Christmas and early January period posed some challenges, a return to warm, settled weather through February and March improving ripening. Occasional rain showers kept canopies refreshed, leading to a smooth, trouble-free harvest. The season produced wines of both volume and generosity.

Winemaking:

Harvest: 29th - 31st March 2025

Processing: 70% whole bunch press, 30% crushed fruit. Cool settled for 48 hours and racked

Fermentation: 100% Wild Yeast

Fermentation Vessel: 70% Stainless Steel, 30% Neutral Puncheon

Malolactic: None

Fining: None Filtration: Sterile Vegan: Yes

Bottling Analysis: 13.5% Alc, 3.29 pH, 6.7 g/L TA, 3 g/L RS

Full Bottle Weight: 1,265 g

Rosie's Block Chardonnay captures the best of Nelson in a full bodied, beautifully balanced and crisp Chardonnay with creamy nuances and a lingering dry finish. 

It is named after Rosie Finn, second generation wine family member and daughter of Tim and Judy Finn, who co founded Neudorf Vineyards.

This Riesling celebrates the 50th harvest of Heaphy’s oldest blocks of Riesling and the wine is dry, racy and firm, opening up with lively jasmine, spicy ginger and white tea floral notes over a structured palate and intense, mineral finish. Grapes were  pressed in stainless steel tanks, 15% old puncheon barrels and one third in amphora.

This is a great match with sashimi, smoked fish or goat's cheese.

The vineyards selected for this wine are Huia Rapaura vineyard and Rose family Kennedy vineyard. 

The grapes were hand-harvested, whole bunch pressed. Juice was racked off to barrels for fermentation  where a warm, fast ferment was encouraged. Base wine underwent full malolactic fermentation. Aged on gross lees in neutral French oak for 14 months. Wine is put on tirage where yeast and sugar is added before bottling. Second fermentation occurred in bottle and the  wine aged on lees for a further 20 months. Hand riddled over 5 weeks and disgorged on 6th December 2021. 

Senses 

Sight: cured salmon pink. 

Smell: Strawberries, cherries and baked bread. 

Taste: Fresh, wild strawberries and strawberry shortcake with a crisp finish. 

Food Matches: Goats cheese platters. Saffron risotto. Proper Crisps with Marlborogh Seasalt

Dark, juicy, spicy and delicious Syrah made from organically certified grapes grown in Marlborough. Exceptional wine with power, elegance and structure.

Drink now or hold til 2026/2027.

Organic certification

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.

Two Paddocks Pinot Noir is actor and winemaker Sam Neill's introduction red to his range of wines from Central Otago. It's made from hand harvested grapes which are fermented and matured in French oak barriques. It is 100% certified organic, which reflects the Central Otago wine region's pre-eminence as New Zealand's leading organic wine region - 16% of the region's vines are certified organic with another 7% in the conversion process, which means that by 2023, 23 % of the vines will be certified.

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. 

Coddington Chardonnay is made with grapes grown on a West Auckland vineyard owned by Tim and Angela Coddington, who have provided grapes to Kumeu River Wines since 1998; originally used in the Estate Chardonnay.

The grapes from this vineyard has since proven to have such rich, distinctive flavours that the Brajkovich family decided to create a single vineyard Chardonnay, initally in 2006. 

Kumeu River Coddington Chardonnay is ripe, peachy and rich with supple approachability, density, concentration and luscious creaminess. This makes the wine easy to drink at an early stage and it will age well too.

Kumeu River Wines began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

White haven Pinot Gris is a versatile dry style with flavours of fresh nashi pears and crisp red apples, a medium body and textural finish. It's a great wine for everyday drinking with or without food, a lovely aperitif style to enjoy at lunch and early evening.

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.

We're big fans of dry Chenin Blanc and this is one of the best made in New Zealand with its ripe flavours of green apples, clover honey and notes of dried grass and hay  aromas. This is a great wine to drink with fish 'n chips by the river, on the beach or in the backyard. It's also a delicately refreshing drink on its own as an aperitif or late nightcap. John and Beth Forrest are Chenin Blanc devotees and it shows. 

Machine harvested grapes were fermented in large oak barrels (1000 litres) and extended lees ageing brings depth and layers of flavour to this wine.

Chenin Blanc is one of the great white wines of the world, traditionally from the Loire Valley in central France, and also a grape that has found its home happily in many cool climates of the wine world, such as parts of New Zealand.

A rare delicious fresh white wine made from Petit Manseng, a French grape that originates in the south of France and makes characterful dry white wines such as this lively, aromatic wine - flavours of grapefruit and zesty ripe citrus make this a deliciously tasty wine. 

The father-daughter winemaking team, John and Beth Forrest, are champions of lesser known, outstandingly interesting grape varieties from around the world, including Petit Manning. 

Pronounced 'pet-eet man-seng'. Deliciousness in a bottle.