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First ever bubbly from Coney Wines

When Coney Wines launched its first ever bubbly last month, I was reminded of a conversation with friends at a South Island winery about how hugely under rated, and relatively unknown, high quality sparkling wines are in New Zealand today. Despite this, the best sparkling wines made in this country put a strong case forward for the great suitability of New Zealand for producing some of the best bubbles on Earth. “Sparkling has been on my mind for a long time,” says winemaker Lisa Coney,...

World Environment Day inspires cultural change

World Environment Day this month was an official call for the global reduction of plastic, which just so happened to inspire a pretty well known Argentinian winery to significantly reduce its use of another intensively used resource - glass.The winery in question is Bodega Catena Zapata in Mendoza, Argentina and its shift to lighter weight glass bottles represents a 24% lighter bottle than the industry's global average. But it's more than a mere technical change, says family member Lau...

Brave new food future at Palliser

When is the best time to take the plunge and employ one of the country's best chefs in a full tie role when you're a winery situated in a relatively remote village? If you were thinking of diving into such a venture and if you were listening to reports of the current economic uncertainty, now might not sound like the best time to do it but a brave chief executive has put her money where her mouth is and employed the first full time permanent one to grace the floors of Palliser Kitchen.Pip G...

French Film Festival Aotearoa is coming

It's officially six days - and counting, for those of us who are partial to an injection of all things French-inspired. The French Film Festival Aotearoa begins on Wednesday 4 June and runs through to the end of June. Topics and themes span a wide range from the nature of friendship to saving a family business.... well, I don't want to give to much away. Suffice to say that if the preview film of the festival, The French Job (Les Régles de L'Art) is anything to go by, we're all in for a treat.&...

Wine for cats and dogs? Yes, it's a thing

If your favourite feline is partial to a little catnip, a new catnip wine might appeal. It is a real thing and it was announced in Aotearoa New Zealand today. I have yet to personally smell or taste the new products but I grow a lot of fresh herbs, including catnip, and I can vouch for its potency as a strongly herbaceous substance to cats. Catnip (or Nepeta cataria) is thought to have been introduced to New Zealand as a garden herb in 1870 and has been seen to positively impact mood in app...

Redmetal wines live up to their name

Grant and Sue Edmonds carved a name for Redmetal Vineyards by championing Merlot when most of their contemporaries were singing from a Cabernet song sheet and, 34 years later, they're still swimming against the tide. Three new wines prove the point. Not that they are trying to make any particular point but their left field wines do it for them. They are Albarino, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, all of which highlight the diverse potential of Hawke's Bay to grow a wide range of grape varieties to make ...

Sauvignon from the south

As autumn moves swiftly and somewhat bone chillingly into winter in New Zealand, it's a full bodied dry white wine that took my fancy this week. Not because of personal preference but because of the exceptional skill of coaxing complexity from the most widely produced grape in this country - Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was released in the second half of last year and it replaces the outstanding forerunner, Pegasus Bay Sauvignon Semillon - which has, in a way, been reborn in the winery's new-ish M...

Less is more

This column was first published in Drinksbiz, May-June 2025, New ZealandAre we drinking less wine, better wine or different styles of wine and how does the industry adapt to changes in consumption patterns?Is wine consumption in long term decline or is the drop of 2.6 per cent in global consumption last year simply part of a natural cycle, which will rise again before we know it? If a report by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine last year is anything to go by, wine consump...

Can Vinarchy create a bright new future for wine?

Can a new global wine company lead the world's wine drinkers out of slumping sales into a bright new future?The launch of Vinarchy in April this year sees a new company with a vision to do just that, bringing many of the world's largest wine brands together under one roof, so to speak.“The global wine industry faces serious structural challenges. Global wine consumption has been declining for years, driven by changing consumer preferences and a shift to lower-alcohol drinks. Vinarchy will...

The Graduates new all day rosé

Three friends who met at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) in Hawke's Bay have teamed up and called themselves The Graduates, which doubles as the moniker of their eponymous wine brand. They are Irene Noval, Matthew Walker and Chelsea Millar, who met while studying winemaking and viticulture course at EIT and they have a new wine out now.The new release is called All Day Rosé and it comes from the 2024 vintage in Martinborough. Some might this as a bit of a leading name but with sunny d...

A very good year - Martinborough 2025

This wine column was originally published in the Martinborough Star, May 2025As autumn’s coppery leaves turn to winter’s skeletal trees, there’s a burning question on the minds of many Pinot Noir devotees – how good will the wines from 2025 be? The answer appears to be a resounding positive applause from a wide range of winemakers, large and small, from across the stony terrace vineyards in the village and further afield in Te Muna Valley. Here’s a snapshot of their views on ...

Exploring Valli's latest Pinot Noir releases

This column is my first to appear on Substack. Flying in and out of Queenstown are equally dramatic but, somehow, the flight in is always better. Filled with the anticipation of breathing in those jawdropping views for days while admiring the majesty of the arid landscape. The trip home was made easier two weeks ago when four Pinot Noir focused days in Central were followed by the arrival of several wines from the region, all awaiting review when I returned home. Wine always makes more sens...

Winter hits early... Wines of the week, 2 May 2025

Temperatures plummeted, waves submerged coastal roads and winds thrashed against the plane flown by battle weary pilots who braved it through dense grey clouds hanging over the capital in Wellington city this week. It was the tip of a chilly start to the month of May, which sent most New Zealanders running for the cover of their homes, even if some were advised to relocate from their coastal homes in the capital for the night. I often miss the coast but was thankful to be in Martinborough during...

Wine Woman of the Month - meet Anna Daniel

May marks the end of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and it sure feels like it, so here's a cheery start to the weekend - the Wine Woman of the Month for May. Meet Anna Daniel, the Marketing Coordinator for Stone Pony.When were you first bitten by the wine bug?My interest in wine began somewhat unexpectedly when I started working at an Italian restaurant on Waiheke Island. Although I’m originally from France, wine was never a central part of my upbringing — my parents weren’t partic...

Folding Hill Pinot Noirs and Chardonnay show Bendigo's beauty

The evocatively named Folding Hill wines put forward a convincing case for the beauties of Bendigo, one of the many complex, sub regional wine growing areas in the majestic Central Otago region. This latest trio of wines from Tim and Nicola Kerruish are all outstanding examples of great winemaking and a grape growing climate that is, relatively speaking, in its infancy – at just a few decades old – and showing great promise. 17.5/202023 Folding Hill Bendigo Chardonnay RRP $38Foldin...

Carrick Winery's new room with a view

The vast windows of Carrick Winery's restaurant has always been a room with a spectacular view but now the winery owners have built a new cellar door with an even better view of Bannockburn Inlet, pictured in this post. I visited two weeks ago. It was a rainy day but it's hard to dampen my spirits in Central Otago, due to the breathtaking beauty of the region. The new Carrick Winery cellar door and it is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, reflecting Carrick's commitment to gue...

Vintage 2025 marks milestone for Rockburn

The 2025 vintage marks a major milestone for Central Otago winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis, who celebrates his 20th vintage at Rockburn winery. His journey began in rural Waimate, a South Island town that's better known for sheep and cattle than Pinot Noir but a degree in microbiology at the University of Otago soon changed all that. And after graduating from university, Rees-Francis immersed himself in the New Zealand wine industry, working in Marlborough and Central Otago, ...

The Many Faces of Pinot Noir

If the wines of Mora have yet to come across your path, they are worth beating a path to, if you'll excuse the metaphor. The word Mora means to pause, which is exactly what a group of about 130 people did in Pisa on a very warm, very sunny Saturday morning earlier this month.The Pisa in question is in Central Otago and this event was the third Mora's Annual Harvest Celebration. It was a day to take time out from life and unwind, with wine in our glasses, food on our plates and people who ha...

Treading lightly with wine

If global wine consumption statistics are anything to go by, wine drinkers are taking a lighter approach than they did oh, say, 15 or 20 years ago. Robust international wine research, including from the IWSR shows a significant and steady decline in the amount of wine consumed globally but not only that, lower alcohol wines are also more popular with wine drinkers and producers alike. It's not all doom and gloom, in this writer's view, because a diversity of wine has always been a good thin...

Blue Earth releases five year old Pinot Noir

Blue Earth Estate has forged a reputation for releasing wines when they have age and the  savoury Pinot Noir reviewed in this column is a good example; it comes from the superb 2020 vintage. That was the year of covid lockdowns, which made harvest tricky in many parts of thew world, including at the relatively small Blue Earth Estate in Te Muna Valley, Martinborough, New Zealand. Despite the challenges of social distancing while picking grapes, the 2020 vintage was excellent across New Zeal...

Vintage 2025 in New Zealand's epicentre of Pinot Noir

Vintage is in full swing when the plane lands in the midst of majestic mountains encircling Queenstown. I'm here to host The Many Faces of Pinot Noir tasting for 100 people who have come to enjoy Pinot Noir, lunch and a chance to learn about the region and its wines at Mora Wines' Annual Harvest Celebration. The visit is also an opportunity to pick grapes at Felton Road, visit Carrick Winery's new cellar door, stop into Dicey's winery (a first time visit), taste ferments at Quartz Reef with wine...

April's wine woman of the month Anna Campbell

Anna Campbell is the co-founder of The Uncommon wines, one of the newest canned wine brands in Aotearoa New Zealand, who shares her first wine experience and how that led her into a career in making it. When were you first bitten by the wine bug?Wine was always part of my life, growing up because my extended family had vineyards in Christchurch. I never imagined I’d one day be in the business of wine but when the opportunity to bring The Uncommon to life in New Zealand presented...

Let's hear for... the white wine spritzer

It's Sauvignon but not as we usually know it. LYLO is the newest wine brand to hit the wine shelves in Aotearoa New Zealand - with a twist. That twist is the suggestion to use this wine as a base for a fresh vibrant cocktail and a lower alcohol one at that. The letters LYLO stand for Live Your Life Out Loud, which may sound more like a chilled out day floating around a swimming pool with a shaken not stirred rendition of a favourite cocktail but in this case, the idea is to make s...

What do new tariffs mean for NZ wine exporters to USA?

New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Officer Philip Gregan announced today that New Zealand wine exported to the United States of America (USA) will now pay a tariff of 10% (calculated based on the FOB value of the product) in addition to the existing tariff.This will come into force on Saturday 5 April."This 10% addition is the baseline tariff increase for all imports into the USA. This is a significant increase on the current tariffs, which currently range between US 5 and 14 cents per...

Wine of the week - A surprise style

Aria is one of the great whites made in New Zealand at Pegasus Bay winery in North Canterbury. This wine of the week is a sneak preview of the new 2024 Aria, which will have its official release in late April/ early May this year. It is a stellar wine from a vintage that was slightly short on botrytis in a region renowned for it - from selected vineyard sites. This wine strikes a sublime balance of climate, botrytis influence and piercing zesty acidity which brings freshness to every s...