Rose needs no introduction but Pinot Meunier might do. As its name implies, this grape is part of the Pinot family and in this case it comes from the Blue Rock Vineyard, south of Martinborough township.

This wine is dry, medium bodied and fresh with red fruit flavours. Good drinking year round. Serve lightly chilled.

Roaring Meg is one of Central Otago's most popular wines and is named, cheekily, after a lady of the night during the infamous gold rush days in this southern region, in the 1800s. 

Pinot Gris is the most popular and widely planted white grape in this region, although it pales in comparison to Pinot Noir, which makes up over 80% of the area's vineyards. Gris is a soft, smooth and approachable white wines, such as this lightly spicy version with a good balance of fresh southern acidity, thanks to the cool climate here. 

A great wine made in tiny quantities from the cool North Otago Waitaki Valley where hot days, cool nights and a long growing season produce high quality grapes in small volumes. The Valli winemaking team of Grant Taylor, Jenn Parr and Karl Coombes hand harvest all their grapes, whole bunch pressing them to barrel, including 22% new oak. Full solids with lees stirring during maturation for 12 months gives this wine body to burn and a lingering flavoursome finish comes from the high acidity from this edgy cool climate, nicely balanced by all that lees aging. A beautiful complex Chardonnay to drink now or to cellar. 

Deliciously smooth, textural Pinot Gris made with grapes grown in Hawke's Bay. All grapes were destemmed and fermented in amphora (clay vessels) from Spain with gentle hand plunging followed by 15 days of skin maceration to derive colour and flavoursome depth in the wine. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

This is a pronounced skin contact expression of the Amphora Albarino with dried apricots, quince & orange rind notes. Appealing phenolic texture with treacle & marmalade, finishing with freshness.

As I was pressing the Albarino, (which had been macerating on skins for two weeks) the 'skins' portion began to turn a bright orange colour. I separated this amber portion into puncheon & barrel.

Later down the ageing track the pressings component from the Amphora Albarino announced itself as its own wine. So I paid attention and gave it its own voice.

The whole bunches were hand harvested, de-stemmed and macerated on the skins for two weeks time. A very light daily hand plunge and the addition of my active vineyard starter yeast which fermented underneath the vines. Biodynamic preparations 500, CPP were applied to the soil through out the year, as well as silica quartz (501) to the canopy.

Great Esk Valley blend from the great 2020 vintage and made entirely from grapes grown on stony soils of Gimblett Gravels. This wine is one of the top 12 Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection wines for 2020. It's a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, fermented in open top concrete fermenters and hand plunged. Deeply coloured and complex with jammy and plummy notes.

The Malbec provides smoothness and depth with soft plummy flavours from the Merlot and structure from the Cabernet.

This top drop drinks well now and will also age well for seven to eight years.

Versatile, refreshing and incredibly age worthy. Chenin Blanc is one of the great grapes of the wine world for all these qualities and more and this one is made with grapes grown on Ian Quinn’s Two Terraces vineyard in Mangatahi, Hawke's Bay. Quinn, the grape grower, is an unapologetic devotee of Chenin Blanc, which he supplies to several passionate winemakers, including Gordon Russell of Esk Valley. 

Russell ferments this Chenin in stainless steel, maturing it in a concrete egg for six months on fine lees. It's dry in taste and literally just off dry in style with residual sugar of 5.8 grams per litre. 

New Zealand’s climate is exceptionally well suited to this stunning classic French white grape variety, as winemakers such as Gordon Russell of Esk Valley, has shown for decades through his passionate perseverance with this lively white grape. 

Chenin Blanc is one of the world's most versatile grape varieties because it can be used to make bone dry, full bodied whites, which both France and South Africa specialise in and it can also make super succulent sweeties. The grape's naturally high acidity adds balancing freshness to wines made from it, which retain a brightness and lively style. 

The Elder Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on a small, elevated, stony, north facing vineyard, situated south of Martinborough township on White Rock Road. It's produced by Mike and Margaret Hanson and Nigel and Bridgit Elder, hence the name.

The wine is an earthy, delicate style of Pinot Noir, made for the two couples by winemaker Paul Mason of Martinborough Vineyards. 

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

Grenache was first planted by Villa Maria in 1996 on a small patch of ground on the Ngakirikiri Vineyard in Hawke’s Bay and used to make a reserve wine.

This new addition to Esk’s Artisanal range is made from those grapes. Smooth, soft red with more noticeable acidity than southern French Grenache. Very classic Grenache aromas of red fruit and a smooth texture with elegance and without any hint of new oak flavour or any oak influence.

Crater Rim is a small and high quality winery in the Waipara Valley in the heart of North Canterbury and this is a lovely earthy expression of Pinot Noir from this wine region. 

Savoury layers of smoked mushrooms and bright red cherry flavours combine in this lively red. Drinks well now and can improve for the next two to three years. 

One of New Zealand?s best bubbles and one of its most consistent, complex handmade wines; it's typically a 70/30 blend of toasty flavours from Pinot Noir with crisp citrus creamy ones from Chardonnay. It comes from one of the country's oldest producers of traditional method sparkling wine - Rudi Bauer in Central Otago, who pioneered Quartz Reef Brut NV in the early days of Otago as a wine region.

Quartz Reef Brut NV began life when winemaker Rudi Bauer teamed up with a visiting French winemaker Clothilde Chauvet (daughter of champagne maker Marc Chauvet). Together they pioneered this high quality, traditional method sparkling wine, using mostly Pinot Noir (now 72% of the blend) with the balance being Chardonnay. The wine is typically aged for two years on lees in bottle following its second fermentation - longer than most champagnes. No wonder it massively over delivers on both taste and price. This is a stunning sparkling wine. Ignore at your peril.

Un-oaked Chardonnay made with grapes sourced from throughout the Central Otago region and exhibiting the region's natural elegant fruit flavours and mineral complexity. The wine is fermented in tank to retain its bright fruit and is left to rest on its yeast lees to gain some doughy complexity and softness. This is a refreshing full-bodied wine, unencumbered by oak and superb with food.