This fleshy, savoury, super silky and earthy Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on a small .8 of a hectare situated on the road to Castlepoint in the northern Wairarapa. The first vintage was 2016 and the wine is a  collaboration between winemakers Karl Johner and Raphael Burki. All grapes in this smooth Pinot were hand harvested with 20% whole bunch to provide floral and fruit aroma lift and silkiness. The wine was aged for 12 months in French oak, 20% new, and bottled without filtering or fining. It is vegan friendly.Lime Hill Pinot Noir is made from a small vineyard of .8 of a hectare situated on the road to Castlepoint in the northern Wairarapa. The first vintage was in 2016 and the brand is a  collaboration between winemakers Karl Johner (of Johner Wines at Gladstone) and Raphael Burki, who have been making wine together since 2009. 

This wine is bottled without any filtering or fining. It is vegan friendly.

"Selected from some of our finest Hawke's Bay Gimblett Gravels vineyards, this small-batch, barrel-fermented wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (65%) from our Gimblett Road and Murdoch vineyards, Cabernet Franc (20%) from our Gimblett Road vineyard, and Merlot (15%) from our Mere Road vineyard. The wine is full and expressive, showing rich fruit with spice, tobacco, chocolate and a velvety texture offering refinement, power and persistence. 

Generous, intense and complex with rich black fruit notes, mocha coffee and sweet spice."

The Chatterer Merlot Cabernet will definitely get tongues wagging with its depth of blackberry and blueberry fruit flavours, full and rounded body and outstanding character. This wine offers fabulous value for money and beautiful aromas of soft plums and dark berry fruits. 

The 2021 vintage was great in Hawke's Bay and that comes through in every complex sip. 

Mount Beautiful by name and by nature, this full bodied, peachy South Island Chardonnay is beautifully balanced by freshness and acidity of flavours of red apple, stone fruits and nectarines, leading to a creamy, textured palate that is medium bodied. Flavours include layers of buttered brioche and the wine finishes clean and crisp with flint-like minerality.

Barrel fermentation adds a noticeably delicious depth of flavour to this zingy, dry and refreshing Chenin Blanc from one of those who know the grape like the back of their proverbial winemaking hand - Simon Waghorn. He is an ardent fan of Chenin and gives it all the bells and allows its own personality to shine in this wine. 

Grapes were grown on the sunny, north facing Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough with partial barrel ferment to add body while wild yeasts add savoury flavour notes. 

This is a deliciously complex Chenin at an extremely affordable price with flavours of green apples, liquid honey and notes of dried grass, which make it feel like a hot sunny day with a cool crisp dry white. 

This wine drinks beautifully now and can certainly age for up to a decade, potentially longer. Longevity is one of the hallmarks of the Chenin Blanc grape variety and the wines made from it.

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters. 

Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen are partners in wine and in life and dab hands at producing powerful Pinot Noirs in Central Otago. This one comes from grapes grown on two of Maude's vineyards, Sitting Bull and Queensberry. It's a medium bodied Pinot Noir, dry, earthy and with refreshing red fruit forward flavours.

It drinks beautifully now and can age for a further six to seven years. One of our favourites.

This wine is graceful and elegant.

On the nose and rolling into the palate, yuzu oil and orange zest are laced with white florals and enchanting summer herbs. There is our trademark hint of white pepper which skips across the palate intertwined with well-balanced acidity. A subtle minerality glides through this wine, leaving a beautifully clean and refreshing finish. Be Bold, drink Riesling.

Vineyard:

Site: Rosie’s Block - Upper Moutere, Nelson

Aspect: 90m Elveation, North Facing

Soil Type: Moutere Clay Gravels

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

Vineyard Established: 1999

Farming: Dry Farmed, Organic (Biogro: #5438)

Variety: 100% Riesling

Clonal Selection: GM110, Ormond 239/10, 198/19

Hand Harvested: 100%

Seasonal Detail: A dry start to the season followed by a wetter than normal November. A welcome change to early summer and autumn where we experienced drier and warmer months (December – April). Minor rain events ensured canopies stayed “refreshed” before a trouble-free harvest period. A generous season producing wines of volume and precision.

Winemaking:

Harvest: 30th March 2023

Processing: 100% whole bunch press on gentle cycle. Cool settled for 48 hours and racked.

Fermentation: 100% Wild Yeast

Fermentation Vessel: 100% Stainless Steel

Malolactic: None

Fining: None Filtration: Sterile Vegan: Yes

Bottling Analysis: 12.5% Alc; 2.89 pH; 6.9 g/L TA; 6 g/L Residual Sugar

Full Bottle Weight: 1,265 g

Tasting Notes
Aromas of ripe peach abound, with subtle undertones of buttery oak and a refreshing citrus acid backbone, adding layers of complexity. A balance of fresh fruit, malolactic and oak influences have resulted in a full bodied wine with stone fruit flavours, buttery, nutty notes and Meyer lemon freshness.

Winemaker's Notes
100% fermented and aged in older French oak barrels, sur lie. 100% MLF. 10 months in barrel before being blended to tank, ready for bottling.


Food Match
Roast chicken & mushroom risotto
Roast Salmon with herby cous cous salad
Butternut Squash Cannelloni

Ata Rangi Pinot Gris is modelled on the classic style of wines from Alsace in France and is made from vines which are now over 23 years old. 

The grapes are fermented in older oak barrels, which provide texture and body to the finished wine, which tastes spicy and has flavours of beeswax, lemon curd and fresh pastry, all of which add complexity and softness to this smooth off dry white from one of Martinborough's first four wineries.

The name Ata Rangi is Maori for dawn sky and was chosen to portray the new beginning that the start of this winery represented for founder Clive Paton in the late 1970s.

Exceptional dry, flinty and complex Sauvignon Blanc made with grapes grown in the Awatere Valley, the cooler climate area in this terraced valley, south of Blenheim. 

This wine is made from 100% Awatere grapes, which provides it with a flinty, fresh style where blackcurrant leaf, tomato leaf and green herbal flavours are all supported by super refreshing acidity and a long finish.

This is a consistently outstanding Sauvignon Blanc, which highlights another string to Marlborough's white wine bow.

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters. 

Stone fruits and green fruits such as pear and apple combine beautifully with some phenolic texture in this luscious wine.

This wine has minor label damage

Dark berry, floral and spice notes, with underlying pepper complexity. A fine tannin framework and natural acidity provide tension, length and excellent cellaring potiental.

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.