Red Wine

This wine is made from Mt Maude Vineyard at the base of Mt Maude in Wanaka, a one hectare site planted at 400 metres elevation and where the grapes are grown without irrigation. This family owned site was planted in three Pinot Noir clones 667, 777 and 115. The wine is made without whole clusters in the ferment and with 18 days of maceration by winemakers Sarah Kate and Dan Dineen. 

It tastes silky, structured, sensitively balanced, long and fresh with great depth of secondary savoury earthy spice flavours married with red fruit and complex notes that will definitely develop further over time, evolving positively. All grapes in this wine were hand harvested and the name Kids Block refers to the owners - Dawn and Terry Wilson?s grandchildren. A row of vines was planted for each grandchild, all planted in 2000 and all in different Dijon Pinot Noir clones. 

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. 

Sam Neill?s latest Pinot Noir is youthful, bright, boldly fruity with firm tannic structure and the ability to age, all of which makes it a good contender for decanting prior to enjoying right now. It?s a complex and interesting Pinot Noir as a blend of Neill?s four small certified organic Central Otago vineyards with 37% from The Fusilier Vineyard in Bannockburn, 7% from the elevated, cool climate of The Last Chance Vineyard in Earnscleugh, Alexandra, 40% from The Red Bank Farm & Vineyard and 22% from The First Paddock in Gibbston. All grapes were hand picked, 54% destemmed and all fermented with wild yeasts. The wine was given 10 months aging in French oak, 18 per cent new. It?s a very good wine and will reward further cellaring.

Appealingly aromatic, this Pinot Noir reveals notes of Morello cherry and bramble ont he nose. On the palate - fine, silky tannins and juicy acidity provide an elegant structure, with complexity coming from gentle toast and woodsmoke characters.

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 M?ori 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. 

This Pinot Noir is one of our favourites and comes from Wellington's closest wine region, the Wairarapa; Gladstone, to be precise, where winemaker Karl Johner has what you might call a foot in both camps. The German born winemaker produces wine at his winery in Gladstone in the New Zealand summer. In our winter, he hot foots it back to Germany to work harvest at his winery there.

The wines from both places are classic, elegant expressions of aromatic grape varieties; high points are Pinot Noir, Riesling and Pinot Gris; made in a range of styles.

This Pinot Noir is a dry, medium bodied, earthy and smooth. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. This wine ticks the vegan friendly box.

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.

Prophet Rock?s flagship Pinot Noir ? Sourced from their ?Home Vineyard? on a steep, elevated terrace in the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago. Here, altitude, climate, soils and meticulous viticulture combine to produce Pinot Noir with stature and concentration. Careful cellaring will reward collectors over the next 10+ years.

This is Chard Farm's Cromwell 'village' pinot noir made from their Estate Vineyards in the Cromwell Basin; Lowburn, Gibbston and Parkburn.

WINEMAKERS COMMENTS
Expressive, complex bouquet with sweet floral notes, coupled with swirls of ripe cherry, plum fruits and aromatic spice. Ample freshness and velvety tannins lead to a palate that is elegant, satisfying and highly drinkable.

Impressive and full bodied, savoury and earthy with all the classic flavours of great Wairarapa Pinot Noir. Winemaker Jannine Rickards has crafted a gorgeous textural Pinot Noir here with gentle French oak maturation, 20% new, giving the wine a light fine and no filtration. This wine is from an excellent vintage, 2020, and has great longevity of up to seven to eight years as well as being a great drink now. 

An elegant wine showing dark red berry fruits, dried herbs and subtle savoury notes. There are complex layers of whole bunch characteristics, spices, earthy cedar and forest floor. Elegantly concentrated with fine tannins and a silky texture. 

Beautifully suited to a rack of lamb or game dishes such as venison or duck.

Certified Organic

A steep vineyard in Omihi that was established in 1999 has now been renamed as Damsteep (aptly enough) and is home to the grapes that find their way into this pretty aromatic Pinot Noir with its smooth and savoury flavours of fruity red berries, wrapped in firmly structured earthy notes and a lingering, silky finish. This is a great drink now from a very good vintage for quality and it will age well for up to five years, possibly longer. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulphur.

This spicy North Canterbury Pinot Noir was made from grapes grown along terraces on the banks of the Waipara River with wild yeast fermentation and hand plunging before  10 months maturation in French oak barriques. 

The region's naturally low cropping levels provide concentrated flavours in the grapes, which translate to an expressively savoury wine with smooth silky notes.

* Terrace Edge was named the New Zealand Organic Vineyard of the Year in 2018 and this year was named Aotearoa New Zealand Organic Winery of the Year. 

Escarpment Pinot Noir is made by one of New Zealand's most admired winemakers, Larry McKenna, who adores Pinot and makes it in a delicate but powerful style. Sound like an oxymoron? Try this excellent wine. It's made from hand picked grapes from a blend of Martinborough vineyards which are planted in clones 667, 777, Abel, 114 and 115. Gentle hand plunging extracts taste but keeps tannin in balance and the finished wine is aged for 11 months in French oak, 25% of it being new barrels.

Pinot Noir makes up over 80% of Central Otago's vineyards and it suits this cool climate because it is one of the earliest ripening red grapes in winemaking and can be harvested before the region's frosty winters set in. 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. 

It's a light bodied, fresh and smooth red wine with notes of spice and cedar; made for drinking early in its life rather than aging.