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.

A benediction from a season and a place.

Concentrated, rich fruit & deep resonant flavours. A dark, savoury, vibrant wine with presence & poise.   We think, a rare & fine wine.

Deserving of a special presentation; the label shows an original painting, Inherent, by @austistic_ian

Hand-harvested.

Select barrel.  Special wine. No one who tries it is unmoved.

Michael Cooper, Feb 2026 - Home Fields Reserve Wairarapa Pinot Noir.  Five Stars

Full of aging potential, the classy 2024 vintage (*****) was estate-grown in the northern Wairarapa.  Full-bodied, with deep, bright, youthful colour, it is a sturdy, rich red, very harmonious and supple, with concentrated, ripe cherry, plum and spice flavours, complex and savoury, and gentle tannins.  Skilfully crafted and already delicious, it's likely to be at its best from 2030 onwards.

Beautiful Chardonnay with full bodied, creamy smooth flavours from the Kiwi king of Chardonnay, Tony Bish, of the Urban Winery in Hawke's Bay. This beauty is made from 100% Mendoza clone Chardonnay grapes grown in two areas in Hawke's Bay; the Upper Dartmoor and Bay View. All of the grapes were hand harvested and 95% fermented in barrel with 5% in Tony's new French oak ovum. The wine was then matured for a year in 25% new Taransaud oak with regular lees stirring (aka batonnage) to enhance the creamy expression of barrel maturation. 

This wine is one of only two in New Zealand to make it onto the 2020 Top 100 Wine Discoveries by leading wine authority Robert Parker.

Complex, dry, savoury and sophisticated Pinot Noir; consistently one of the best from Central Otago. This wine is an outstanding expression of cool climate Pinot and is 100% certified organic made from two vineyards with approximately 75% of the grapes from Pisa with the balance coming from Muirkirk Vineyard on Felton Road in Bannockburn. A star. Drinks well now and is a keeper for at least four to five years, over which time it will evolve into an even more layered wine. 

Fruity red deliciousness with the X factor from winemaker Tim Adams, formerly the red winemaker at Astrolabe Wines in Marlborough. He has moved onto new pastures and is making this juicy red from ripe Syrah grapes, allowing the wine to express all it savoury glory as it is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Kumeu River Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend together to create a deliciously dry and perfectly pink crémant. The aromas of summer sparkle from the glass, freshly picked strawberries and white stone fruit build the texture and mouth feel we really enjoy from our Kumeu Crémant.

The perfect aperitif for the festive season.

Tasting Notes:

Benefitting from gentle, northerly exposure, the mature vines of Block 6 channelled every minute of golden autumn sunlight into a wine of arresting vitality. Sensitive elevage has tempered the exuberant peach and grapefruit characters, allowing notes of brioche and hazelnut to add a sense of depth. A saline edge emerges on the finish as the fruit reaches its crescendo, at once both slaking and inspiring thirst. Complexity from simplicity.

Introduction:

 Commencing with meticulous site selection and vineyard design in 1991, Felton Road's story is one of refusal to compromise. A strict 100% estate policy with fully organic and biodynamic viticulture (BioGro and Demeter certified) ensures that our fruit arrives at the winery as pure as it can be, while our entire estate comes as close to true sustainability as is possible. The winery is also B Corp certified and a proud member of IWCA (International Wineries for Climate Action). A commitment to hands off winemaking: gravity flow, wild yeasts, wild malo, an avoidance of fining and filtration all help preserve the wine's expression of its terroir. The result is Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which accurately express the authenticity and complexity of our unique vineyards.

Vineyard & Viticulture:

 Felton Road farms four properties totalling 34 ha in the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago. Chardonnay is mostly grown on the Elms vineyard in Blocks 2, 6, 8 & 9, with approximately 10% coming from each of Cornish Point and Calvert vineyards. There are a range of altitudes and aspects, with the soils mostly deep schist gravels. Meticulous summer management of a single vertical shoot positioned (VSP) canopy ensures even and early fruit maturity. Shoot thinning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking, bunch thinning and harvest are all carried out by hand to ensure optimum quality fruit. Cover crops are planted between rows to assist in vine balance and to improve soil health and general biodiversity

Vintage:

 After a wet September, spring commenced with good soil moisture and bud burst occurred at the normal time of early October. Temperatures hovered around average with December being warm and dry, enabling a successful flowering and fruit set. The dry conditions prevailed throughout January and February limiting berry size and setting the scene for fruit with elevated phenolic material and complexity. Judicious use of irrigation was required to maintain sufficient vine health throughout this sustained dry period. Temperatures never spiked and hovered around average enabling a slow and steady path to maturity. A distinctive feature of March 2024 was the cool night temperatures preserving acidity, freshness and precision of fruit character. Chardonnay was harvested from 18-27 March.

Vinification:

Predominantly Mendoza with some Dijon clone 95 Chardonnay from Block 6, was whole bunch pressed, settled overnight and flowed by gravity to barrel in the underground cellar. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts in seasoned French oak (no new oak) was followed by a long and complete malolactic over the spring and summer. After 17 months in barrel (11 months on gross lees) the wine was racked carefully to tank for bottling in late-August 2025. The wine was not fined or filtered.

Typically fresh aromatics of quality Hawkes Bay Chardonnay are evident including citrus, white flowers and stone fruit. These are complemented on the palate by a creamy richness from aging on lees. Roast hazelnut, almond and hints of gunflint result from the indigenous fermentation in barrel.

Smith & Sheth is a relatively new wine brand, which is made by extremely experienced wine hands. Viticulturist and Master of Wine Steve Smith sourced grapes for this wine from low yielding old vines averaging 25 years in age from the rocky, bony soils around the Renwick township in Marlborough. These were blended with biodynamically grown grapes from the elevated slopes of Sam and Mandy Weaver's Churton Vineyard. The result is a concentrated, refreshing and super intense Sauvignon with drive and backbone, coupled with the refreshing tang provided by bright acidity, which makes every sip linger. 

This is a beautifully silky smooth Central Otago Pinot Noir made entirely from estate grown fruit at a small vineyard in Bendigo, one of the warmest corners (and often the first to harvest) in Central Otago. This wine comes from one of the driest, most settled vintages, weather-wise, in the past five years, and those qualities translate through to an intensely aromatic Pinot, driven by fresh floral notes and ripe dark cherry flavours in a silky textured wine. This wine is great value and super tasty.

The name Ballasalla comes from a village on the Isle of Man where one of the winery's founders, Tim Kerruish, was born. 

A great Syrah which as first made in the early 1990s from iron rich soils in Hawke's Bay. This makes Bullnose one of the oldest Syrah brands in Hawke's Bay, named after one of the vineyards from which the wine is made (which, in turn, was named after the vineyard owners' love of old cars, particularly the pre 1928 Bullnose). The grapes come from two vineyards, Bullnose and Isosceles, both in the Bridge Pa Triangle; one of the warmer growing areas of Hawke's Bay, thanks to both soil and climate there. 

Aging for 15 months in French oak, which provides its spicy notes and depth.

A beautiful wine for drinking now or for cellaring. 

WINEMAKING NOTES

The fruit for this wine was grown on the upper terrace at Askerne Vineyard and is predominantly Clone 14 Semillon. It was handpicked then whole bunch pressed, lightly settled and transferred to barrel. 100% barrel fermented with a mixture of wild and inoculated yeast, the wine was then aged on its lees for 18 months prior to blending and bottling. Final blend has a 33% new French oak component and the balance 2nd fill.

ANALYSIS

pH 3.05
TA 6.8
Alc 13.0%
RS 0.9g/L

TASTING NOTE

Bright aromas of lemon, fresh tangerine and tropical pineapple with mineral notes and hints of scented oak spice. The palate is rich and textural with concentrated lemon and stonefruit flavours on a backbone of bright zesty acidity which gives a wonderfully long finish.

AWARDS

94 Points Cameron Douglas
94 Points Sam Kim

A superb lightly oaked Wairarapa Pinot Noir offering all the depth, complexity, structure and wind chiselled savouriness you'd expect.

The nose brims over with red fruit and spice; juicy plum, red currant, autumn mushrooms and dried cardamom.  The palate is weighty but soft and reveals itself over time.

Tasting Note: Deep and complex bouquet of red cherry and sweet raspberry, pomegranate and hints of fresh zesty blood orange. Full-bodied yet extremely elegant, fine-grained but present tannins, minerally, youthful acidity and hints of Five Spice and a deep core of cool, vibrant fruit, lovely length, and persistence. Cellar 12 to 18 years.

Winemaking Notes: Harvested 9th April 2016, bottled 15th February 2018. Hand-picked and carefully selected 100% Abel Clone Pinot Noir grapes. All de-stemmed, cold-macerated and fermented in small batch stainless steel vats and left on grape skins for 4 weeks. Aged in 100% new French oak barriques of the Bourgogne Tonnelleries Rousseau, Remond and Meyrieux for 20 months. No fining and only light filtration before bottling.

“With a slew of red-berry and spicy nuances, this is a super-elegant pinot noir with very fine tannins that are now almost perfectly resolved. Extremely long, polished and mineral finish of the kind you expect from Grand Cru red Burgundy with some age. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling, January 2022

“Plenty of spiciness to the hibiscus, ripe-cherry, strawberry, oyster, mushroom and earth aromas. Smoky, too. Full and dense. Then it changes to dried cherries with some citrus, closing up nicely with freshness and intensity. Needs time to open. First bottling of this. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Better after 2024.” – James Suckling, October 2022

Certification: Organic

Alcohol: 14.0%

Variety: Pinot Noir

Region: Wairarapa, New Zealand