Joelle Thomson

Wine writer and award winning wine author


What I am drinking, reading and savouring each week

Waitaki Riesling

Waitaki Valley is the smallest wine region in Aotearoa New Zealand with three wineries and 52 hectares of vines producing grapes each year, making it a modest size by anyone's count. It is also under the radar in profile and best explained as North Otago due to the fact that...
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Mission Estate is the oldest continuous working winery in New Zealand and its Huchet wines are named in honour of the first winemaker, Brother Cyprian Huchet, the son of a French winemaker from the Loire Valley, who became the first winemaker in New Zealand at Mission Estate...
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Craggy Range Restaurant Named Winery Restaurant of the Year and Awarded Two Hats at the 2024 Cuisine Good Food AwardsCraggy Range Restaurant has been named Winery Restaurant of the Year for the sixth consecutive year at the 2024 Cuisine Good Food Awards.The restaurant was al...
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Wine news is pouring in thick and fast in Aotearoa New Zealand and this month's sees the retirement of Rockburn Wines founding director, Dick Bunton ONZM, who has sold his stake in the company to the remaining founding directors, Chris James and Paul Halford.Rockburn's ...
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Spring has yet to be sprung but if the warm breeze, blue skies and gentle sunshine are any indication today, it's coming soon. As are the late winter frosts. They always seem to hit at exactly the same time as the tenderest of spring buds begin to appear on the vine, on frui...
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Bookings are open now for the second weekend of Discover Te Muna Valley, an outstanding two day discovery of the spectacular valley that lies nine kilometres east of Martinborough wine village.This is the second Discover Te Muna weekend. Our first event was in August this ye...
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Martinborough wine news

August 7, 2024
It's been a busy two months on the Martinborough wine scene with launches, tastings, a new brand (Mason) and new releases, including the sixth vintage of Marie Zelie Pinot Noir and new single vineyard Pinot Noirs from Escarpment. Not to mention a private group’s Italian ta...
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It was warmer than usual, drier than usual and riper than usual, which could be an expression of climate change (warmer weather) or an unusually warm year. Whatever it comes to down, the new 2023 Earth & Sky Pinot Noir is a richly fruity, spicy Pinot Noir from Central Ot...
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What is Marlborough’s best kept vinous secret? There are several contenders but it has to be a wine that is rising in stature, both in volume and in value (quality, in another word). So, here it is: Pinot Noir. The vast stony plains of free draining, arid soils and th...
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If Dry July has passed you by (no rhyme intended), spare a thought for the makers of New Zealand's newest 0% alcohol wine, the Giesen family, who added another dealcoholised wine to their now growing range this week. The new wine is the 0% Giesen Chardonnay (RRP $18.99)...
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