The aim for this Chardonnay is to retain a fresh structure with a complex palate. It is the vineyards, wild-ferment and barrel characters that make up the complex nose and palate.

This fruit comes from three vineyards; the Taylor Vineyard, which is in the Rapaura area, the Twin Valleys vineyard, which we have been working with since 2003 and a ten rows of Clone 1066 from the Mahi home block.

All of the vines were intensively hand-tended, and the grapes hand-picked and then taken to the winery for whole-cluster pressing. The resulting juice went straight to French oak barrels and fermented with indigenous yeast from the fruit. After fermentation the wine sat on yeast lees for eleven months prior to blending and bottling.

VARIETY: Chardonnay
WINEGROWING TEAM: Brian Bicknell, Phoebe Cathcart, Max Bicknell, our focused growers and brilliant vintage staff
ALCOHOL: 13.6%
TITRATABLE ACIDITY: 6.9 g/L
RESIDUAL SUGAR: 0.35 g/L
BRIX AT HARVEST: 21.9 - 24.9
HARVEST: Hand-picked, 16 March - 4 April

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. 

Trademark wines are only made in a good vintage, with fairly small print runs.  They're drinkers and keepers.  Made from 100% Hawke's Bay gold.

Ripe fruit from three of our Trademark Syrah vineyards planted on limestone hillsides and an old riverbed. It shows admirable ripeness and depth of flavour, retaining vibrancy and great complexity on the nose and palate with typical violet, spice, black cherry and subtle white pepper notes. Supple chalky tannins provide a structure that promise time in bottle will be rewarded.

Vineyards
- The McKenzie vineyard is located in Waipara close to the winery. The vineyard is a free draining terrace site. The average age of vines varies from 16 years or older.

Wine Making
- All hand harvested in late April and early May
- Harvest brix ranged from 22-23 brix [% sugar]
- Fermentation was in small vessels [1500L] 3 day cool soak, inoculated with yeast,
fermentation varies from 4-6 days peaking at 32 C then allowed 7-10 days on skins. Some components were given extended skin contact up to 28 days.
- Pressing was in traditional Basket Press
- Cooperage was a mixture of French barrels ranging in age from new to 6+ years. Duration is approx 18 months
- Malo lactic [ML] fermentation is natural starting in Spring and the wine is racked and has a SO2 addition once ML complete.
- Bottling is through 1 micron filter

Bottle Details
- Alcohol 13.0 % by volume
- Acid is 5.5 gm/L [as tartaric]
- Volatile Acidity is 0.45 gm/L
- Residual Sugar is < 1 gm/L

Commercial Description

This Pinot Noir is from our Ballochdale Vineyard, high in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough. This is the first wine Sir George made from this vineyard he acquired in 2023. The vineyard sits at 300m high and is one of the highest and most southerly vineyards in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough.

As soon as we released this wine, it was loved by all. It truly is a gorgeous example of a perfectly crafted Marlborough Pinot Noir. We are so proud to share it with you.

Commercial description

Our Merlot Cabernet Franc comes from our Cornerstone vineyard growing in Hawke's Bays' famed Gimblett Gravels appellation. An area renowned for producing excellent hot climate reds. We think Cornerstone is the jewel in the appellation's crown but there again we are rather biased!

In our Iris blend, the Merlot sets up the palate with ripeness and structure while the Cabernet Franc brings its sweet dried basil notes to create our deliciously good medium-bodied red

TASTING NOTE From grapes grown on naturally low-yielding, old vines, this wine is vibrant and complex. Grapefruit, peach and earthy clay pot aromas complement a fresh and focused palate. Fine phenolic texture and mineral acidity add depth and length respectively.  The salinity from the ocean, oak influence, together with juicy tree fruit notes from the grapes, round out what is truly a charming wine. 

VINEYARDS & VITICULTURE Our Waiheke Vineyard is accredited with Sustainable Winegrowing NZ and is entirely owned and managed by Cable Bay Vineyards to ensure we produce the best quality fruit possible. We practice regenerative viticulture. The site is located on the sun-drenched, western side of the island, on steep slopes overlooked by Rangitoto volcano. We have predominantly mineralised clay volcanic soils over Jurassic era rock. This type of geology and soil provides wines with great mid-palate weight and minerality. This wine is a blend of Chardonnay clones 15, 95, 6 and 548. 

WINEMAKING The ripe fruit was hand-harvested early in the morning whilst the grapes were nice and cool, transported across the road to the winery, and immediately whole bunch pressed. It was settled and racked taking light lees, leaving textural Chardonnay juice to enter wild yeast fermentation. We allowed partial malolactic fermentation on this wine, to both develop mouthfeel while preserving the natural acidity of our warmer sub-tropical climate. Following barrel ferment, the wine aged in second use oak puncheons and barriques on full lees for 12 months before assemblage, and then a further 3 months integrating together as a blend in tank, before bottling.

TASTING NOTE Dark purple and ruby appearance with a pink rim leads to a bouquet of ripeness, concentration and power. On the nose, the wine bursts with aromas of fresh crushed blackcurrant, rosemary flower and violet, layered with smoky clove and new leather. The palate is opulent and velvety in texture, with concentration, ripeness and power. Plum, dark cherry and cocoa beans are vibrant and lingering. This wine is both intense and delicate.  A lovely reflection of the 2021 season. 

VINEYARDS & VITICULTURE Our Waiheke Vineyard is entirely owned and managed by Cable Bay Vineyards to ensure we produce the best quality fruit possible. We practice regenerative viticulture, and we are accredited with Sustainable Winegrowing NZ. We are located on the sun-drenched, western side of the island, on steep slopes overlooked by Rangitoto volcano. We have predominantly mineralised clay volcanic soils over Jurassic era rock. This type of geology and soil provides wines with great mid-palate weight and minerality. This wine is made from the Hermitage MS clone of Syrah. 

WINEMAKING These Syrah grapes were hand-picked in March 2021, on a cool morning, and immediately taken across the road to our winery. The ferment was 100% whole berries, which helps to enhance the floral and bright fruit characters in the wine. At pressing, only the free run wine was retained to ensure delicacy, and run to French oak puncheons and barriques. In 20% new oak, it aged for 21 months before assemblage and bottling.

Commercial Description

We are lucky at Čuvar to have arguably one of the best red wine vineyards on the Gimblett Gravels, which meant that the Syrah weathered the early cyclone and continued to ripen to produce fruit with depth of flavour and ripe tannins – the perfect palette to create this wine.

Firm, ripe tannins create a backbone enveloped in juicy sun kissed fruit that lengthens on the palate to leave you wanting more.

Commercial Description

made from fruit sourced from Ballochdale in the Awatere Valley. Proudly sitting 300m above sea level, the vineyard’s spectacular inland location provides the most desirable conditions for producing wines of identity and intensity.

Čuvar Guardians Pinot Noir 2023 is the first wine Sir George made from this vineyard he acquired in 2023. This wine displays vibrancy and a ripe red fruit profile typical of the regions, along with added depth, structure and spicy nuances from ageing in French oak barriques. While still youthful, the wine already shows nice complexity from the oak maturation and will age gracefully well into the end of the decade.

This bright ruby red Pinot Noir has aromas of ripe red cherry, cranberry and accented hints of savoury earthiness.

This lovely new rose on our shelves from a well established winery in a remote corner of our nearest wine region, Matahiwi Estate in the northern Wairarapa. Deep pink in colour and deeply fruity in flavour, this lovely medium dry rose is made 100% from Pinot Noir grapes. 

Hieronymus is a blend of grapes and of vineyards and is composed of 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec and 8% Tempranillo with 58% from the Gimblett Gimblett and 42% from the Bridge Pa Triangle.

Grapes were harvested in three separate hand picked lots and fermented separately in oak cuves, then drained to barrel without pressing. The wine was aged for 26 months in 50% new French oak.

The wine's name pays homage to an ancestor of the winery's owners, the Weiss family.