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Top drops under $30 from the NWWA Top 50

As the year speeds swiftly towards a close, many industries pause to reflect on the past 12 months, often by publishing annual reports. They may sound dry but many of them contain gems of information, as the latest New Zealand Winegrowers Inc Annual Report 2025 does. Never fear. I am not going to regale readers with the data because it's all available here: https://www.nzwine.com/media/ohtobhbr/nzw-annual-report_2025_digital_lr.pdfI am still part way through reading this report, which arriv...

Top 50 under $30 revealed this week

at a time when three little words - cost of living - are finding their way into our conversation more than most of us would like, it's refreshing to find 50 top wines under $30, which are widely available and have made the grade on the basis of independent blind tasting. This week the Top 50 wines under $30 were officially revealed following the New World Wine Awards (NWWA) 2025, which I was part of the judging team for, mid year. Every wine was scored using the internationally respect...

Blushing with spring - Martinborough Star wine column

This column was originally published in The Martinborough Star, October 2025Rosé is thriving in the Wairarapa and New Zealand, having  hitched a ride on the coat tails of pink wine’s global success. Rosé now accounts for about 30% of French wine sales compared to 16% in 2002. It has surpassed white wine sales in France and some predict it could soon outstrip sales of red wine there – no mean feat in a country renowned for the world’s classic red and white wines. Here in Ma...

Variety is the spice in Elephant Hill's new releases

Elephant Hill winery is situated on one of my favourite stretches of wild, windy coastline in Aotearoa New Zealand. Its location at Te Awanga, south of Napier city, is an edgy one for growing grapes, which accounts for why the wine wines from here shine with vibrant acidity and depth from the relatively long growing season. The following wines are the latest to land on my tasting table from this winery and all of them are underpinned by fresh, fine acidity that lends brightness to each sip....

State of Chardonnay in New Zealand

Chardonnay is the world's favourite white wine and the second most planted white grape in New Zealand with 3,069 hectares of grapes, which might pale in comparison to Sauvignon Blanc's 28,109 hectares but where the taste, quality and range of styles are all punching well above their weight these days. Chardonnay was once, briefly, the most planted grape variety overall in New Zealand but size isn't everything. Numbers aside, the uniformly high quality of Chardonnay made in this country...

And just like that Jules Taylor marks 25 years of winemaking

Jules Taylor is having an "and just like that moment" because this is her 25th year of winemaking in Marlborough. She made the first Jules Taylor wines - 400 cases of Pinot Gris and Riesling in 2001 - the same year that screw caps were launched in New Zealand on a chilly August day in Marlborough. The screw cap launch took off immediately and if appearances are anything to go by, so did Jules Taylor Wines but Jules admits that it hasn't all been plain sailing.“Every year, I feel a wave of nerv...

Winetopia turns 10 years young

Where can you try glasses of high priced, perfectly cellared, 10 year old Pinot Noir from some of New Zealand's best vineyard sites - and try lots of wines like this in one day?The answer is the 10th annual Winetopia in Auckland on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 October - and tickets are on sale now.“We wanted to take the serious wines usually found in exclusive trade tastings and put them into an environment which was fun and celebratory," says Winetopia Founder and Event Director Rob Eliott. �...

A life in wine - Philip Gregan announces retirement

It is the sort of announcement that marks the end of a long era of leadership for New Zealand Winegrowers - Chief Executive Officer Philip Gregan has announced that he will retire in 2026.The end of his dedicated tenure at NZ Winegrowers will mark 43 years of service to the New Zealand wine industry and the board of NZ Wiengrowers extends its deep gratitude to Philip for his contribution and lifelong commitment to the industry.“This remarkable tenure reflects a working lifetime of unwaver...

Pretty in pink and polarising - new rosés

Is there anything more contentious for wine drinkers than dry versus sweet wine? I'm not talking here about the obvious debates around packaging - corks versus screw caps (which is so old as a debate now, as to render it completely bizarre that it still enters conversation), boxes filled with plastic bladders and low priced large volume vessels, such as magnums for sub $20 bottles of wine.I am talking about pink wine that's pale but not dry. There's a long line up on my tasting table right ...

Boxing on Rosé - surprising new boxed rosé

Just when we (the royal 'we' - that's me, for one) thought wine in a box was a relic of bygone days, along comes a wine to prove otherwise. The new range highlights four varietals; Chardonnay, Dry Rosé, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz; all made in collaboration with South Australian artist Claire Ishino, whose role was the artwork on each two litre box. The producer is Yalumba, whose mantra for this range is something along the lines of dress to impress while also walking the sustainability talk ...

New reviews - Takapoto Estate Pinot Noirs

Just how many Pinot Noirs are made in New Zealand today?If the ever expanding lineup crossing my tasting table is anything to go by, there appears to be no ceiling - either in style or sheer volume - on the number of Pinot Noirs being produced across Aotearoa New Zealand today.Among the latest to impress is a standout from Takapoto Estate, with the Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir leading the charge. Once considered a marginal (read: cold) corridor connecting Central Otago’s warmer Cromwel...

Hunter's Wines adds an Australian connection

Hunter's Wines is paying homage to an Australian connection this month with the launch of Golconda Shiraz. The wine is made in homage to second generation family members, James and Edward Macdonald (nephews of Jane Hunter). Their great-great-grandfather’s paddle steamer, the Golconda, once plied the waters of the River Murray - and provided the inspiration behind this wine's name. 18/202022 Golconda Shiraz RRP $39.99The first swirl of the 2022 Golconda Shiraz tastes like wa...

Friendship and fine wine

Red Hut Wines is a tale of friendship, frustration and fine wine, only in this case it's also relatively affordable wine, which was launched this month by Mike Farrugia and Corey Ryan. The pair have collaborated on other winemaking enterprises so there is a high level of trust. And they both acknowledge that sometimes the best ideas are born out of frustration as well as out of friendship. For Corey Ryan, a winemaker with decades' of experience under his belt, and Mike Farrugia, a long...

A Pinot week

To say it's been a Pinot Noir week is an understatement. It has been a Pinot month as I have been immersed in thoughts, tastes and the incredibly diverse range of styles of Pinot Noir in New Zealand today, in preparation for the annual Drinksbiz Pinot Noir Report. The contents of which remain under wraps until the magazine is printed and in the hands of the wine, food and beverage industry in this country, within the next week or two. There have been far more Pinot Noirs to taste, rate, rev...

Courage and great gin - meet two newcomers

When is the best time to launch a new brand?When asked, most people suggest waiting until after an economic downturn but the founders of a new gin brand called Unlikely Companions, have decided to take the plunge now and are launching their gins across New Zealand this month."We soft launched Unlikely Companions at the end of last year with an initial batch of about 1,000 bottles and created pop-up cocktail bars at drinks festivals to test the market and get early feedback," says Simon Swa,...

International Pinot Noir Day - "The one red wine"

Today is International Pinot Noir Day and it brings to mind the words of Astrolabe winemaker and co-founder, Simon Waghorn; “If you only had one red wine to be able to make, Pinot Noir would be the one you’d normally choose as a winemaker." Waghorn is an aromatic wine devotee. He has carved his winemaking name by producing distinctive aromatic white wines but the Pinot Noirs now being produced at Astrolabe are showing the benefits of a similar focus, which is enhancing the style and str...

An ode to rosé

Why has pink wine soared in popularity over the past two decades? While we ponder the question, the popularity of rosés, rosados and pink wines keeps on growing, along with the variety of styles these wines are made in. While pale pink rosés appear to be all the rage, there is a lot more to the world of pink wine than these, with Spain's deep pink rosados (typically made from Garnacha and other, more deeply coloured red grapes) can also taste every bit as dry as their southern French counterpa...

If you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere

Aotearoa might be a long way from New York but the 2023 vintage has a lot in common with the most famous song about the Big Apple; If you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere, sang Frank Sinatra, and the sentiment applies to the 2023 vintage. Talk about a tough one.As if two cyclones weren't enough for winemakers to contend with, continuous rainfall made that most important winemaking decision a fraught one - when to pick the grapes. The same was true in Hawke's Bay and, for the first time ...

Gimblett Gravels winemakers' best foot forward with 2023 release

Sixteen years on and the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District's (GGWD) Annual Vintage Selection is stronger than ever, with the release of its 16th annual top wines officially announced today. The 16th vintage of the top wines includes six from the GGWD from the 2023 vintage, which Sydney based Master of Wine Andrew Caillard describes as being "Extremely moving to taste wines of this quality and impact.” Caillard selects the top wines every year from a larger group that are put for...

Queen of whites and pinnacle of aromatics - Pegasus Bay's new releases

North Canterbury is one of the greatest wine regions in Aotearoa New Zealand and it's with a sense of awe that I taste the wines from the typically small to medium sized wine producers in this interesting pocket of winemaking, 40 minutes ' north of Christchurch city. It might be a smidge on north of the city but North Canterbury really is a world away in terms of the style of wines made there. 18.5/202024 Pegasus Bay Bel Canto RRP $40Bel Canto is the evocative name of the pinnacle of Pegasu...

Vintage overview Central Otago 2025

Picture on this blog: Beau, a Bendigo wine dog, stands on a vineyard post with the Pisa Range behind her one morning during harvest at Quartz Reef.What makes a good harvest and how did Central Otago look in 2025?It's a tricky question when the sun is shining, the region in question is one of the most spectacularly, jaw droopingly beautiful in the world and its dramatic mountainous foothills are flanked by vineyards nearly entirely devoted to Pinot Noir. It can be a little difficult to stand...

New Golden Egg and Heartwood Chardonnays

Two new Chardonnays from Tony Bish Wines this month highlight the diversity of the world's most popular white grape variety. Chardonnay, and the Hawke's Bay wine region.Chardonnay is often pigeon holed as big, creamy and buttery or lean and crisp, if it's a modern style fashioned after traditional Chablis, but in winemaker Tony Bish's hands, Chardonnay appears in a wider range of styles. Bish has a refreshing winemaking style and philosophy, which highlights the fact that Chardonnay is not an ei...

Pour the Marlborough Chardonnay

If Marlborough Chardonnay needs any introduction (which it really does not, given the stellar reputation and taste of Chardonnays from Dog Point Vineyards, the historic beauties of both Fromm and Giesen's Clayvin Vineyard,, Greystone, Cloudy Bay and so many more), here's an outstanding new wine to try. That was a long preamble to this wine of the week. This is stellar - a great wine to drink for Matariki this Friday 20 June. Wine of the week19/202024 Bouldevines Vineyard Rapaura S...

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...