A beautifully fragrant Chardonnay that fuses traditional and modern winemaking techniques; whole bunch pressing, barrel fermentation, barrel maturation on gross lees, and malolactic fermentation. The nose offers lemon, white peach, popcorn and fresh pineapple and leads to a palate of lemon curd, crème brûlée, toasted cashew and slight touches of flint and smoke. This is vibrant and juicy with refreshing acidity and plenty of concentration.

Ash Ridge Wines is located in Hawke's Bay and is a family owned winery established in 2005 by Chris and Sonya Wilcock.

This gem from the stunning 2020 vintage has a savoury, gamey bouquet packed with meaty nuances, black pepper, herb, dark plum and blackberry. The palate is rich with dark fruit and savoury details thanks to a supple tannin framework and balanced acidity.

This is a great example of Hawke's Bay Chardonnay. Artisan wine-making and selective picking have produced a crisp, expressive wine. The palate is ripe and balanced with fresh acidity and notes of subtle oak, citrus peel and  tropical fruit.

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, then crushed and fermented in small 3-tonne open fermenters. Each batch was hand-plunged and allowed varying periods of post-ferment skin contact to enhance complexity and structure. After pressing off, the wine underwent malolactic fermentation and was aged in a mix of French (90%) and American (10%) oak barriques, adding subtle layers of flavour and depth. 

Tasting Notes - Enticing aromas of freshly sanded wood, new leather, anise, and spice draw you in. On the palate, sweet dark red fruits, plums, and berry pie flavours shine through. Grippy, robust, dry tannins balance a smooth, sweet, slightly charry oak profile. This wine is drinking well now but will develop even more complexity with ageing.

We're excited to have such a tasty new Central Otago Pinot Noir for under $30 retail, full of dark summer berry aromas and succulent flavours of plums underpinned by savoury notes of spice and vanilla. The 2021 Mount Michael Pinot Noir made with a natural yeast fermentation and pressed to allow an extended period of maturation in French Oak, 10% of which was new - a modest amount, which provides softness to the wine while allowing fruit flavours to shine. 

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.

Big, buttery and oaky in taste, Durvillea Chardonnay is the little sister to Astrolabe Chardonnay. It's made with grapes grown in two parts of Marlborough with 66% from the Awatere Valley and 35% from Wairau Valley. 

All grapes in this wine were hand picked then fermented with a combination of wild and cultured yeasts. A portion of barrel fermentation adds weight and structure to this incredibly accessibly priced wine. 

Its flavours are of cream, ripe grapefruit and softness. 

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. 

WINEMAKING NOTES

This wine was made from 100% MS Clone Syrah grown on the stony and sandy lower terrace of the vineyard. The grapes were fermented in open top tanks.  The ferments also included a 10% Syrah whole bunch component as well as 4% Viognier for added complexity.  Gentle hand plunging was used for extraction. The wine was then held on skins for a total of 4 weeks giving an extended period of post ferment maceration to build richness. The wine was then pressed and racked to French oak barriques where it was aged for 9 months. The final blend has a 20% new oak component and 60% second fill.

ANALYSIS

pH 3.75
TA 6.3g/L
Alc 12.5%

TASTING NOTES 

Fragrant and expressive, full of crunchy berry fruits, florals and scented spices, wild herbs and nuanced gamey notes. The palate plays on concentrated berry fruits and earthy complexity, balanced against bright acidity bringing wonderful length and flavour vibrancy through to the end.  Fine tannins gently fill and flow seamlessly through the wine.

This deep ruby, complex dry, spicy red comes from Elephant Hill Winery, which has its headquarters on the beautiful coast at Te Awanga in Hawke's Bay. 

Beautiful by name and beautiful by nature. This new Riesling puts North Canterbury's best white wine foot forward with its candied lemon, concentrated mandarin and ripe grapefruit aromas,. It's a light bodied, powerful white with rich citrus flavours and a super long finish. This wine's intensely aromatic mid palate ends on a crisp refreshing note.

It contains 21 grams residual sugar (medium dry style) but finishes on a dry note.

There are three single vineyard Pinot Noirs in the Mount Edward stable, including this outstanding full bodied example which is made from grapes grown on the upper terraces of the Pisa sub region. These grapes are always the first to be harvested and Pisa Terrace Pinot Noir is a wine of perfume and aromatics, a lifted wine, light in feel and weight, elegant with a purity of fruit.

Deep ruby in colour and impressively structured with great mouthfeel and lively acidity supporting the seductive tannins of Cabernet Franc. Grapes grown in the  Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District of Hawke’s Bay were cold soaked for four days prior to ferment to help extract maximum flavour and enhance colour stability. Fermentation included hand plunging for up to four times daily. The wine was pressed and then racked off gross lees to 14 per cent new French oak. 

This is modestly priced for such an impressive wine that is clearly a keeper, for those with willpower. 

Maori Point Pinot Noir is a full bodied expression of the hero red grape of Central Otago and named after a bend on the Mata-Au (also known as the Clutha River) where Māori prospectors panned for gold in the 1860s.

The wine brand is owned by two families who grow the grapes and employ experienced winemakers in the region to produce their wines. The philosophy of the owners is to produce high quality wines made from hand picked grapes from vineyard sites with low yields, using wild yeast fermentations, minimal sulphur additions and using sustainable practices as much as possible. This is their quest and the wines are elegant renditions of Otago's edgy climate with its hot summer days and cool seasons on both sides of ripening. 

Hawke's Bay winery Alpha Domus makes outstanding Chardonnay in a range of styles from sparkling to still and medium to full bodied, such as this big, dry, rich barrel fermented Chardonnay.

Kelly Washington wines are a collaboration of Simon Kelly and winemaker Tamra Washington, who source grapes from around Marlborough and other wine regions, looking for organic and biodynamically grown grapes.