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Lifetime awards to Marlborough icons

Five people from three different areas of the wine industry have been recognised with Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2024.They are: Ben and Frances Wickham, of Ormond Nurseries; Rob Agnew, climate scientist and Daniel and Adele Le Brun of No 1 Family Estate. “It’s no secret that Marlborough is home to many winemakers and winegrowers who have been working hard at their craft for some decades now. Alongside them, we have experts in many areas, including the likes of our ...

Marlborough Wine Show winners 2024

Marlborough’s flagship wine takes top award at 2024 Marlborough Wine ShowThe variety that put Marlborough on the map as one of the world’s top wine regions has been crowned the wine of the 2024 Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect.The 2024 Yealands Estate Single Block L5 Sauvignon Blanc won the top award at this year's show with Chief Judge Stu Marfell describing Sauvignon Blanc as a standout in the show, both for the new 2024 vintage wines, but also the legacy category. ...

Wine news from the coal face in Gibbston Valley

Coal Pit Winery owners have announced they are planing a new wine hosting facility on site at the winery, which is situated up the winding, steep Coal Pit Road in the Gibbston Valley in Central Otago. The evocatively named winery's new tasting facility is scheduled to open in 2025 and will see the wine brand bring all of its wines home to its vineyard and winery rather than offering tastings at a shared facility called Kinross, also in the Gibbston Valley. I love the views across the valley...

Maude Wines turns 30

Determination, blind optimism and a steep north facing slope were three of the key ingredients in the formation of Maude Wines, which turns 30 this year. The wines have paid "unimaginable dividends both in terms of wine excellence and family unity," says second generation winemaker Sarah-Kate Dineen, who is the daughter of the founders and makes the wines today with her husband, Dan Dineen. It is an incredible privilege to share their journey, both in the glass and the story that Sarah...

Wine of the month 2023 Pegasus Bay Bel Canto

Tasting of the month (October) in Wellington, New ZealandThe tasting of this month in Wellington was dedicated to a grape variety that won the mantle of Best in the World at the Judgement of London in May 2024, taking everybody by surprise to see a dry wine from a relatively small region in the South Island of New Zealand win. Yes, we are talking about Riesling, specifically Pegasus Bay Bel Canto Dry Riesling. A wine with typically about five grams of residual sugar, sometimes a little less, alw...

New releases from Yealands

 White wines rule the vinous roost in Marlborough with 81% of its vineyard area planted in Sauvignon Blanc, 9% in Pinot Noir, 4% each in Chardonnay and Pinot Gris and 1% in Riesling. This leaves lesser known grape varieties, such as Albarino and Gewurztraminer, to make up a mere smidgeon of vineyard plantings in Marlborough today. It’s an important smidgeon, however, given that having all of one’s eggs in one basket is often been seen as a tad risqué. Marlborough’s success with Sauvi...

Humbling hospice auction highlights

One year and three days after my sister, my daughter, my beautiful Mum's partner and our wider family and I said our last goodbye to Mum, I was lucky enough to attend the 2024 Hawke's Bay Charity Wine Auction. This year the auction raised $325,697 for the Cranford Hospice. Mum would have loved this event - for the bubbly, the festive spirit of celebration in giving (she was one of life's givers) and for the incredibly humbling spirit of generosity because 100% of the funds raised go directly to ...

Wines of the week out of left field... Chenin Blanc in New Zealand

Precious and little are two words that describe Chenin Blanc in New Zealand today. There is barely any of it to speak of, with about 22 hectares and dropping, at last count, but what is produced here is staggeringly good, as this week's duo of Chenin Blancs show. The first comes from the Dicey brothers, James and Matt, in Central Otago. The second is from two generations of winemakers at Forrest Estate in Marlborough.18.5/202024 Dicey Chenin Blanc RRP $40Here’s another side of Central Otago an...

Spring has sprung and so has a 2024 red

Spring is here in all its variety of sunshine, birdlife, frost and wind and so is a tasty young red from a vineyard in Central Otago, which is made from grapes grown this year, 2024.This is a wine that was made to drink slightly chilled to celebrate its light-ish tannins and fragrant aromatic appeal. This means about 20 minutes in the fridge. It was made from a single site and a single clone of Pinot Noir grown on Mora's vineyards in Central Otago. Without further ado, here is my wine of the wee...

Hawke's Bay Charity Wine Auction raises $335,697 for Cranford Hospice

Highlight of the weekend; being at the Hawke's Bay Charity Wine Auction in a room full of people who were happy to give to the Cranford Hospice, including the purchase of one lot of wine (Te Mata Coleraine), only to gift it back for re-auctioning. This meant that the particular lot of wine was effectively auctioned twice, raising $34,500 of the grand total of $335,697 that will go to the Cranford Hospice this year. This amount is the total that the hospice will receive. All operating costs of th...

Wine of the week; 2023 Tony Bish Golden Egg Chardonnay

Chardonnay is king and queen of the global wine scene, no rhymes intended, because it is the most popular wine in the world and is widely tipped to be the most planted grape variety on Earth. It is also the top drop at Tony Bish's Urban Winery in Napier, an historic building he has refashioned into the  commanding nerve centre of his Chardonnay devoted winery. He is the sole winemaker in Aotearoa New Zealand and in Australasia to devote his entire production entirely to this great white gra...

New releases from Folding Hill, September 2024

Folding Hill is a small wine brand situated in Bendigo, one of the driest of all wine sub regions in Central Otago. Evocative by name and by location, it is owned by Tim and Nikki Kerruish, who own an off the grid home on their vineyard and pour their time, resources and love of wine into building up this brand. All wines are now sealed with screwcaps after earlier years with a mixture of screwcaps and cork closures for the top tier wines. This is a brand to watch. 17.5/202022 Fol...

Rapaura Springs reviews September 2024

Rapaura Springs has released these three single vineyard, site expressive wines this month and each wine highlights the diversity of Marlborough as a wine region. It may be heavily dependent on Sauvignon Blanc but the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir here are clear examples of two other strong instruments in its vinous orchestra. 19/20 2024 Rapaura Springs Bull Paddock Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc  Bull Paddock began its productive life as a farm, as the name implies, but today it is on...

What I'm drinking this Friday 5 September 2024

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 there is no shortage of wine regions in this country beginning with the Māori prefix 'wai', which means water. To put it in context, Waitaki Valley is far away from Central Otago and has a distinctly different climate ...

New reds from Mission Estate, August 2024

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 in 1871. These wines span the gamut of price from excellent wines at RRP $29 to top reds named in honour of Brother Huchet. Here are my reviews. 19/202019  Mission Huchet Gimblett Gravels Syrah RRP $170This ex...

Wine of the week 2021 Trinity Hill The Gimblett

August is the coldest month in Aotearoa New Zealand and with one more night to go until spring has sprung, here is a fitting tribute to one of the world's great wine regions and great wine producers; Hawke's Bay and Trinity Hill. This wine is also a fitting one to pour on a chilly night. Wine of the week 19/202021 Trinity Hill Hawke’s Bay The Gimblett RRP $39.99Classic Bordeaux styled blend made by one of the best wineries in Hawke’s Bay today. This blend of Merlot and Cabernet highligh...

And the restaurant of the year is... Craggy Range

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 also named Best Restaurant and awarded the Supreme Award at the 2024 Hospitality New Zealand Awards."It's always an honour to be recognised by Cuisine Magazine, one of New Zealand’s longest-serving foodie institutions that ch...

Weekly wine news... young winemaking awards, Rockburn resignation and more

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 founder (one of them) retiresBunton's journey into viticulture began in 1991 with the establishment of a small hobby vineyard at Lake Hayes near Arrowtown. The first vintage released under the Hayes Lake brand in 1998 grew th...

What's in my glass this Friday (& Saturday)... three whites for spring

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 fruit trees and in the fields where lambs begin to gambol after long, hard, cold nights. This week has marked the start of tasting for an Aromatic Wine Report that is published annually in Drinksbiz magazine, which I am the ...

Book your delicious Discover Te Muna weekend - October

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 year and I am delighted to be the presenter of the first day, hosting tastings and sessions in which we dip our toes into the wines of Te Muna Valley, metaphorically speaking, that is. The weekend is all about discovery; of the...

A baker's dozen... top Pinot Noirs from Aotearoa

When did you taste your first Pinot Noir?If it was less than 20 years ago, you're not alone. Today is International Pinot Noir Day and it's to the credit and talent of New Zealand's open minded winemakers that Aotearoa is now a serious producer of Pinot Noir. For most New Zealanders, Pinot Noir was barely heard of 20 years ago but today it is so much a part of this country's wine scene that it is extremely difficult to whittle down all of the very good Pinot Noirs to a list of 13. I would love t...

Wild Earth wine reviews August 2024

Two new wines were released from Wild Earth in Central Otago this month, both of which I have reviewed this week. Here are my reviews.18.5/202023 Wild Earth Chardonnay RRP $35Smooth silky textured Chardonnay underpinned by crisp acidity and deep lemon aromas which lead into a fleshy, full bodied wine with great balance. This lovely Central Otago Chardonnay is made with hand picked grapes grown on the Highgrange Vineyard, which is situated at 336 to 352 metres above sea level in Pisa, Central Ota...

Sixth vintage of Marie Zelie is released

Who was the first pioneer of Pinot Noir in the North Island of New Zealand?The most likely candidate is a relatively unknown woman called Marie Zelie Hermance Frere, a French settler who planted vines near to Masterton in the late 1800s.This year, the sixth vintage of a wine made in homage to her insightful early pioneering was made and it was released late last month in Martinborough. The wine is the 2019 Martinborough Vineyards Marie Zelie Pinot Noir, which was formally launched at a tasting a...

Martinborough wine news

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 tasting that I was happy the happy recipient of left overs from, thanks to a thoughtful member of the group. This month’s wine news has an unashamed focus on Pinot Noir; the leading grape and wine of both Martinborough and th...

Domaine Thomson farewells founder David Hall-Jones

Central Otago's wine community is mourning the loss of David Hall-Jones, owner of Domaine Thomson wines, who recently passed away after a long journey with cancer.The Domaine Thomson winery is named after Hall-Jones' great great grandfather, John Turnbull Thomson, known as Surveyor Thomson; a man who mapped the region of Central Otago in the 1950s. Hall Jones' journey studied law at the University of Otago and had a long term career in law until retiring in 2020. His winery was a redi...