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Puriri Hills Estate is a great red from a small wine producer just outside the village of Clevedon, in the rolling green hills southeast of Auckland. It's an unlikely destination for a top red as there are few other vineyards in the area, which is warm with a maritime climate - the coast can be seen from the vineyard and is about a 10 minute drive away.   The wines are made solely from estate grown grapes from the four acres on site, which include Merlot, Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. This bunch of classic Bordeaux red grapes inspired founder Judy Fowler to make wines modelled on the great reds of Pomerol and St Emilion in Bordeaux. The first wines were made in 1999 and continue to be produced on site by Judy Fowler and winemaker Evert Nijzink, of Alpha Domus in Hawke's Bay. He continues to consult to Puriri Hills as winemaker and is also strongly involved in blending decisions, which are imperative to reds made from a diverse range of relatively late ripening grapes.  Judy and Phil Nunweeks joined forces in 2005 and he now also works at Puriri Hills. The trio define the outstanding taste of these wines, which are made in small volume and hit high notes of popularity both nationally and internationally. 

Massena is new in store from the Barossa Valley and is a wine producer showing there is more to life than Shiraz in South Australia. Here is the trio of wines we have chosen to dip our toes in the water of lovely full bodied, smooth reds that highlight another string or three to our nearest wine producing neighbour's bow.  The 2017 Massena Moonlight Run Mataro Grenache Shiraz RRP $36.99 Fans of GSMs will love this wine from Massena, which turns the classic formula of Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre on its head. This is an MGS, Mataro, Grenache, Shiraz, and the Mataro here makes up 73% of the wine and is grown on quartz soils in Massena's Dadd's (correct spelling) Block Vineyard. The juice was fermented with 30% whole clusters and blended with Mataro grown on two other vineyards, then blended with Grenache from the Barossa foothills and Shiraz from Tanunda.  Daily pump overs during the early fermentation were followed by punch downs towards the finish of the ferment with gentle extraction then aging in both tank and barrel.  This is a full bodied wine with dark, powerful fruit flavours and firm tannins with notes of softness adding approachability.  The Australians are fond of referring to the Mourvedre grape as Mataro. It's the same grape by two different names. 2020 Massena The Twilight Path Primitivo RRP $35.99 This smooth, soft, velvety Primitivo is proof that there's more to life than Shiraz in Australia's wine headquarters. All grapes in this wine were hand picked from Barossa's South Moppa sub region. They were partially destemmed grapes with 30% whole bunches in the ferment and daily pump overs early in the winemaking process to extract colour and body followed by punch downs to gently extra flavours of bright red fresh berry fruit, such as raspberries, strawberries and notes of spice adding complexity. 2018 Massena Colour Palette McLaren Vale Shiraz RRP $32.99 Fun and fruity with structure provided by the powerful but smooth tannins in this lively, dry, fresh and full bodied Shiraz.  * Massena wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered

Timorasso is one of our favourite Italian white grape varieties here at Regional Wines and most definitely one of the world's least well known ones. This is no surprise really because Timorasso nearly died out after the phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800s, which decimated up to two thirds of vineyards throughout Europe. Luckily, Timorasso has been revived. Thanks to the Massa family who live in the town of Tortona in Piemonte, this zesty white grape has grown from less than three hectares to 110 hectares today. These are shared among many different producers in the tiny hillside appellation of Colli Tortonesi DOC in Piemonte.  We have two Timorassos in store at Regional and they are both extremely different wines but both dry, medium to full bodied and rocking an altogether different vibe of freshness with character to burn. The 2020 Vietti Derthona Timorasso is new in store and the grapes in this wine were grown on vineyards with south east and south west exposure, planted on clay limestone soils.  It's a dry white with high acidity, a medium to full body and white floral notes with flavours of peach, nectarine and a nutty taste on the finish. It drinks well now and definitely has the potential to age.  Winemakers Elena and Luca Currado Vietti fell in love with Timorasso when they first tasted it in the 1990s and have now joined the ranks of producers of this grape, which they describe as a thoroughbred varietal.  Timorasso... Timorasso can be traced back to the Middle Ages and is a vigorous grape in terms of growth. It was nearly extinct after the European phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800s and has slowly been revived so there is now a total of 110 hectares, of which Vietti has 7.1 hectares.  Its production is centred around the town of Tortona, known in Roman times as Derthona, hence the name on the label.

Argentina's love affair with Malbec was sparked in April 1853 by a flame that president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento had for great wine. He commissioned French soil expert Michel Aimé Pouget to bring classic French vines to Argentina because he wanted to raise the quality and perception of his country's wine. Malbec was among the vine cuttings that Pouget brought with him and the rest is history. It was a fortuitous decision to bring Pouget’s expertise to Argentina where vineyards planted at high altitude benefited massively from the plentiful sunshine, cool nights and dry climate. These factors suit Malbec down to the ground or up in the mountains, as the case happens to be because that's where the majority of good quality Malbec grows, often upwards of 1000 metres above sea level. The world's highest vineyard is in Argentina at approximately 2500 metres above sea level. But the story deepens because not long after Pouget took Malbec to Argentina, France's vineyards succumbed to the phylloxera epidemic, which all but wiped out Malbec in its homeland. It was replanted and later suffered badly from frost in 1956 in Bordeaux. Malbec is now on the rise in France again where plantings are on the rise. Over half of France's Malbec is in the appellation of Cahors AC, in south west France; inland from Bordeaux. Malbec legally has to make up 70% of a wine labelled Cahors AC. And Malbec is also known as Cot in Cahors.  We have the 2016 Cedre Cahors AC Malbec in store - buy it here And lots of tasty Argentinian Malbec, which you can explore further and buy here. Happy exploring the wonderful world of Malbec. 

It's humbling to taste wines made by a family that has been in the game for 26 generations in one of the world's most famous wine regions. The family in question is Antinori, which is our new winery of the month for July and we have an outstanding range of the wines open to taste under Coravin. Come in to Regional Wines & Spirits to taste through delicious Antinori wines this month, many of which will also feature as our wines of the week and be promoted in our newsletters so will be open on Wednesdays from 1pm onwards in store.  While we only have access to a couple of bottles of Antinori Tignanello, it's worth delving into what makes this such (and Sassacaia) such famous and outstanding Italian wine. Tignanello was the first Sangiovese on the record to be aged in barriques, the first contemporary red wine blended with non traditional Tuscan grape varieties (specifically Cabernet Sauvignon) and one of the first red wines in the Chianti Classico region that didn’t use white grapes in the blend. All up, that was a big call. Marchese Pierro Antinori first discovered the use of non indigenous grapes, and more specifically, those used in Bordeaux through his uncle, Marchese Mario Incisa della Rochetta, who had a vineyard at Tenuta San Guido in Bolgheri, on the Tuscan coast. At the time he was making wine using grapes better known as Bordeaux classics, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. At first, this was for his own personal consumption, but when the wine was released in 1968 as the legendary Sassicaia, a new wave of red wines was born in Tuscany. Today the wines of Antinori reflect this modern approach by including many grapes that are better known in Bordeaux than Italy. We have a wide range of these lovely wines in store this month to taste and also some great whites too.   Bramito Chardonnay is... This lovely smooth Chardonnay is made with grapes grown on the Castello della Sala Estate, which surrounds the medieval castle at Castello della Sala in the region of Umbria, which borders Tuscany.  The vineyards here are planted in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which both grow well in the clay soils here.  The 2019 Bramìto Chardonnay is characterized by delicate white flower notes followed by light sensations of citrus fruit. The palate is crisp, fresh and full bodied with lovely mineral notes which provide a long finish with flavours of ripe peach and notes of soft creaminess.  This wine is sealed with a screwcap; a modern touch used on many wines from Marchese Antinori.    Santa Cristina is one of the great wines in the Antinori stable. It's a modern Tuscan red with purple highlights and flavour notes of ripe cherries, one of Sangiovese's hallmarks and one which integrates harmoniously with the balsamic and mint notes from the Merlot and Syrah in the blend. Flavour notes of vanilla and coffee complete the aromas and the palate is soft and fleshy with a lingering fruity finish. Oak maturation was brief with just a couple of months in large oak cuves. This wine is sealed with a screwcap, which is a welcome modern addition.   Peppoli... This is one of Marchese Antinori's top Tuscan wines and is made from the Peppoli Vineyard in the Chianti Classico DOCG. This wine was first made in 1985 and is a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was aged in large Slovenian oak barrels with a small portion aged in stainless steel to retain freshness.   Antinori Cervaro della Sala Chardonnay Marchese Antinori Cervaro della Sala Chardonnay was first made in 1985 and is blended with Grechetto for freshness. It was one of the first Italian wines to be given malolactic fermentation and aging in French oak barriques. The aim was always to create a white wine with the potential to age in the long term. It is named after the family who owned the Castello della Sala in the 14th century, a beautiful estate in Umbria, which is now owned by the Antinori family.  Antinori Vin Santo This wine is made from Trebbiano and Malsavia grapes grown exclusively on Antinori vineyards in the Chianti Classico DOCG, which are hand picked into small packing cases, then spread out manually on reed mats to dry at the Tignanello Estate. The grapes are left to dry until the end of December and then softly pressed.  This is a great match with hard and aged cheddars.  Buy Antinori wines here: https://www.regionalwines.co.nz/pages/search-results-page?q=antinori

Stonecroft has the oldest Zinfandel vines in New Zealand and we are lucky enough to have the fruit of those vines in store at Regional as a finished wine, made in small volumes each year.  Stonecroft's Zinfandel vines originally came from California and are now pressed into this full bodied, dry, smooth, plummy red in Hawke's Bay. It's a big wine with spicy notes and nuances of cedar and oak, which add structure and flavour interest to the wine.  All grapes were hand picked grapes, fermented in stainless steel with hand plunging twice daily to extract tannins and add weight. The finished wine was matured for 17 months in American oak, 30% new. Only 100 cases were made.  * Zinfandel is popular in California and also grown in Puglia, southern Italy, where it is known as Primitivo, due to being one of the first grapes to ripen each year, hence the name 'Primi'. It originally comes from Croatia where it is known as Crljenak.

Buy the outstanding 2017 Hans Herzog Mistral RRP $58.99 by clicking here:  And read on to find out more about where the name Mistral comes from... Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne are three of the weird and wonderful grapes of central France, where their original home is the Rhone Valley and even there, they are not exactly household names. The wines made from these great white grapes are usually blends, named after the area in which they are grown, which is the word that typically appears on the label, hence the word Mistral on this New Zealand white lookalike. The name Mistral pays homage to the mistral wind that blows through the Rhone Valley in France, drying out the vines and the climate. Hans and Therese Herzog are great fans of the region and its wines and make a tasty version of their own at their Marlborough winery. It was established in 1994 and has since gone on to produce some of the region's most diverse, high quality, small volume wines, including this blend of 50% Viognier, 30% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne. They grapes were fully fermented to dryness in this spicy, peachy, full bodied white, which is modelled on the great whites of the northern.  Extended skin contact and cold maceration provide the colour intensity and flavour in this wine. The Marsanne and Roussanne were fermented together with wild yeasts in 500 litre puncheons then blended with the Viognier and aged in 500 litre French oak puncheons for 18 months.  The finished wine was bottled without fining or filtration, so it is vegan friendly. Buy 2017 Hans Herzog Mistral RRP $58.99 here: https://www.regionalwines.co.nz/products/hanz-herzog-mistral-viognier-marsanne-rousanne-16

Crljenak, Primitivo or Zinfandel? Or do you fancy a Montepulciano? The first three are all names for the same grape, which originates in Croatia, despite being far better known in southern Italy and intensely more popular in California. We have secured some New Zealand Zinfandel from Stonecroft in Hawke’s Bay, which is home to the oldest Zin’ vines in the country, which make darned delicious wines too, even if we do say so ourselves. Buy 2019 Stonecroft Hawke’s Bay Zinfandel RRP $29.99 here: https://www.regionalwines.co.nz/products/stonecroft-zinfandel-15 Stonecroft has the oldest Zinfandel vines in New Zealand which originally came from California and now make this deliciously robust, smooth, plummy tasting red in Hawke's Bay. It's a big red but drinks well now thanks to ripe grapes and the accessible flavours of the Zinfandel grape variety. All grapes in this wine were hand picked grapes, fermented in stainless steel with hand plunged twice daily to extract tannins and weight gently. The finished wine was matured for 17 months in American oak, 30% new. Only 100 cases were made, so we're thrilled to be in the game, so to speak, with a little of this precious delicious drop. Another great winter red is Montepulciano and if you want to step up the game during the chilly months, Tony Prichard’s latest offers a great alternative full bodied winter red. Prichard was the long term winemaker at Church Road winery many moons ago. He then left to establish his own brand, De La Terre Winery, in Hawke’s Bay. Every self respecting winemaker in the Bay produces good Chardonnay and Syrah, so he's no stranger to those well known varietal wines, but his Montepulciano is a winter red wine made to dive into on a chilly night with robust comfort food. Montepulciano is one of Central's Italy's most popular and most planted red grapes, originally from the Abruzzo and Marche regions, which both have a warm, dry Mediterranean climate. It's a long way from there to Hawke's Bay where Prichard makes this impressive Monte' from hand harvested grapes grown on his Hill Country Estate terraced vineyard. This wine was aged for nearly 15 months in French oak, 40% new. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered so it's vegan friendly.  Each bottle is individually numbered. Buy 2017 De La Terre Montepulciano RRP $47.99 here: https://www.regionalwines.co.nz/products/de-la-terre-montepulciano-16

Escarpment Pinot Noir is made by one of New Zealand's most admired winemakers, Larry McKenna, one of the first to make wine in Martinborough. Buy The Escarpment Vineyard special priced wines here. Who doesn't adore great Pinot Noir when it's made in a delicate but powerful style. Sound like an oxymoron? Understandably it may sound like just that, but Larry has forged a reputation for Pinots that live up to being silky, smooth, velvet gloves wrapped in structured, powerful, long lived iron fists, if you'll excuse the pun. This month is the opportunity to try his excellent wines made in a range of styles, all dry and nearly all barrel fermented, including his adventurously weighty Pinot Blanc and zesty Riesling. Larry uses grapes grown on the winery's home block vineyard on Te Muna Road, nine kilometres east of Martinborough and also around the village of Martinborough. This allows him to dabble in a variety of clones, including Abel, 667, 777, 114, 115 and clone 5 for Pinot Noir, among others for Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Riesling and there is a rosé, which is made from... you guessed it, Pinot Noir.  Not content to sit on his laurels, Larry delves into wine in all its delicious diversity, producing savoury, fruit driven, earthy, fresh wines and other popular styles, such as his Noir Pinot Noir. This is a low fi wine, made entirely from hand harvested grapes. He describes this as a minimal intervention Pinot Noir. It's a savoury style with depth and structure provided by extended time on skins for the grapes and barrel aging for the finished wine, which spends 11 months maturing prior to being bottled unfiltered. This is another of Larry's incremental steps to make a structured, savoury Pinot Noir. It is bottled with low sulphur dioxide and drinks well now but can hold for two to three years.  History of The Escarpment Vineyard Larry McKenna was one of the first winemakers in Martinborough and has had a pivotal role in pioneering Pinot Noir in New Zealand. He was born and bred in Australia and began winemaking in the Wairarapa region at Martinborough Vineyards in the early days of modern New Zealand wine. In 1999 he founded The Escarpment Vineyard on Te Muna Road, a dramatically beautiful valley, nine kilometres east of the Martinborough township.  The Escarpment Vineyard was purchased by Torbreck Wines in South Australia in 2018 and Larry remains at the winery, along with winemaker Tim Bourne.  Escarpment wines The Escarpment Vineyard Pinot Noirs are highly collectible wines, especially the four top tier, single vineyard editions, the pinnacle of which is Kupe, which is named after Nga Waka-o-Kupe; three flat topped hills on the Aorangi Ranges. These distinctive hills resemble upturned canoes, the Maori name for which is kupe, hence the name. Larry McKenna loves a Chardonnay made in a fresh, crisp style with creamy texture but balanced by bright acidity, a medium to full body and a long finish. So, if big buttery Chardonnays are your thing, this wine will meet your hopes in a textural fashion. It's made from grapes grown on Te Muna Road, Martinborough, which were planted in 1999. The wine goes through malolactic fermentation with lees stirring to enhance texture and maturation for 11 months in French oak, 20% new. The barrel fermented Pinot Gris is a great alternative to Chardonnay, which was inspired by the classical French approach to Pinot Gris, using lees stirring and partial malolactic fermentation to add texture, weight and dryness to burn. It's made from 100% Martinborough grapes, all grown on Te Muna Road. Winemaker Larry McKenna recommends cellaring it for up to five years - or enjoy right now.  * The Escarpment Vineyard wines are all on special this June at Regional. Buy here.

Winemakers Rod and Emma Easthope make one of New Zealand's best  Gamays, Not that there are many Gamays made but Easthope Family Vineyards Gamay is super impressive. Despite its brand name it's actually made with grapes grown on Ian Quinn's the Two Terraces Vineyards in Maraekakaho, Hawke's Bay. Quinn is a fellow lover of the velvet smooth reds that the Gamay grape is capable of making.  Legend has it (by relatively good authority, we are led to believe) that Gamay originally comes from Burgundy, France, but was banished from there in 1395 by Phillippe the Bold. It is documented that this particular Phillippe preferred Pinot Noir. But history aside, Gamay has found fortune and misfortune in the region of Beaujolais, immediately south of Burgundy. It's best known for cheap and not particularly cheerful 'nouveau' styles, which are often made from unripe, unfully fermented grapes which taste like pale rosé with a note of sweetness and not much else going for them. There are better nouveau styles but they're few and far between in New Zealand, in terms of their availability here and anyway, they don't put Gamay's gorgeously best foot forward. Rod Easthope does hope (if you'll excuse the pun) to do so, with his Gamay. He first fell for the charms of this grape after sharing a bottle of French 1929 Morgon; one of the top villages in the Beaujolais region, in which Gamay now finds its home.  The Easthope Gamay we have in store is a lovely wine is made from hand picked grapes, which were whole bunch fermented, foot stomped and aged in a combination of old oak puncheons and stone eggs. Bottled unfined, unfiltered and unsulphered. Buy Easthope Gamay here.

Jenny Dobson is a Hawke's Bay winemaker with a long history of European winemaking experiencing, but since most of that is in Bordeaux in the south west of France, it was a surprise to find out that she makes an exceptionally textural dry white wine from an obscure Italian grape. Fiano it is. Buy Jenny Dobson's Fiano here for $34.99 She buys grapes from the Bush Hawk Vineyard on Ngatarawa Road, Hawke's Bay, a site owned by Bryce Campbell, who planted 300 vines in 2010 and had the first crop in 2013. She has since made a 2014 Fiano from this same vineyard, which she now leases. The volume has grown along with the quality of the wine, which is dry, full bodied and fleshy with interesting honey and savoury flavours.  Fiano is an old grape variety from Campania in south west Italy, dating back to the 12th Century. It likes a warm to hot climate and was widely planted but later fell out of favour due to being decimated by phylloxera in the late 1800s. Plantings of Fiano were sporadic in Italy until the 1940s when winemaker Antonio Mastroberadino made his first 30 bottles in 1945. He has since been credited as rescuing this grape from oblivion and it is now grown widely throughout the south of Italy, notably in Marche, Basilicata, Puglia and Sicily.  The great drawcard to Fiano is that it maintains acidity when ripe and grows vigorously, so crop levels and wine quality do not tend to be a worry. The grapes in this wine were fermented in stainless and aged on lees post ferment. There is no oak.  Buy Jenny Dobson's Fiano here for $34.99 

All Deiss wines are certified organic, made from grapes grown biodynamically and they break new ground in style and quality... Hippolyte Rouge is a French Pinot Noir from one of the country's great classic wine regions and from a cult producer, but it's not from Burgundy. Hippolyte is new in store from Domaine Marcel Deiss, one of the greatest organic and biodynamic winemakers in Alsace, the most eastern, the driest and the most Germanic of all French wine regions. Appropriately enough, it is packaged in a tall, Alsatian bottle rather than a fat rounded Burgundian one. It's made from arid granite soil type known as grey Thannenkirch. More importantly, it not only looks elegant in its classic tall Alsatian bottle, it tastes it, thanks to silky smooth textures, the lightest note of spice and the red elegant, seductively fresh berry and redcurrant fruit forward flavours. Domaine Marcel Deiss is based in Bergheim, a small village nestling in the heart of the wine region of Alsace, equal distance from the northern and southern boundaries of the region. The current winemaker is Jean-Michel Deiss, who was born into a long-established family of wine growers, living at Bergheim since 1744. Deiss manages the 26 hectare domaine of hillside vineyards spread over nine communes and approximately 20 kilometres. All Deiss wines are certified organic, made from grapes grown biodynamically and they break new ground in style and quality. Many are field blends, made in homage to historical growing methods where many different grape varieties grew together alongside each other, were picked together and fermented together.  His wines have cult status with wine collectors and drinkers alike so we are thrilled to have a wide range of them back in store, only they are in limited supply, so if you're a fan or a curious newcomer, get in quick.  Buy Deiss wines here.

Worth the wait. Those the first words that sprang to mind when we cracked open a bottle of Champagne Lallier Blanc de Noirs, which retails for an extremely modest $67.99. This Champagne landed along with a large shipment which has been long awaited here at Regional Wines - and talk about punching above its weight. This is on our top shelf in store and if you're a PInot Noir fan, get in fast because it's sure to sell out, given the high quality and modest price ratio. The Lallier Blanc de Noir is 100% Pinot Noir from 100% Grand Cru vineyards in la Montagne de Reims, Ay and Verzenay, all fermented with Champagne Lallier yeasts and given partial malolactic fermentation. The wine is made every year and is typically aged for between 48 to 60 months, depending on the style of the base wines made each year. It is then aged for a further four months before shipment. It's a dry style and tastes it with just 7 grams per litre of dosage (residual sugar). This is a full bodied, dry tasting wine with deliciously robust savoury flavours. Not a champagne for the faint hearted but one for those who adore high end Pinot Noir in all its variously delicious guises. Buy Champagne Lallier's new shipment wines here.

We have opened one of our top Portuguese red wines for you to taste in store this month under Coravin, so we thought it made sense to share details about what makes this wine so good. The five year old 2016 Monte Da Cacada Touriga Nacional is one of our most age worthy reds on the Portuguese shelves here at Regional Wines & Spirits. It will reward more time in a temperature controlled wine cellar, away from light of course, but it also drinks nicely right now, thanks to being made from Touriga Nacional, the queen of Portugal's indigenous grapes. This grape is widely regarded as the best quality grape of the wide range that go into the blends that make top quality port. Today, Touriga Nacional is also being used to make a growing number of high quality dry red wines. Touriga Nacional has small, thick skinned red grapes with deep colour and high tannins, making for impressively structured dark red wines with intense flavours.  The history, mystery and story of Touriga Nacional Touriga Nacional is thought to originate in the Dao region in Portugal and has been used in Australia to make the hybrid grape, Tarrango - a fruity, light red grape and wine.  Touriga Nacional grows vigorously but has small bunches of small, thick skinned grapes which ripen mid season in Portugal's warm to hot climate in the Douro Valley; home to port. It makes deeply coloured red wines with intense perfumed black fruit flavours and high tannins, which act as a preservative to make age worthy red wines and ports. Until the end of the 19th Century, it made up nearly 100% of red grapes in Dao but this figure has now dropped to a miniscule 5%, due to phylloxera wiping out much of the plantings.  The latest figures I could rustle up about Touriga Nacional plantings in Portugal today come from the 3.2kg book, Wine Grapes, which quotes a 2010 national figure of 7,268 hectares. This is slightly more than the entire plantings in Hawke's Bay, which makes it significant but not huge, in terms of numbers. It's the quality that counts, however, and this is something Touriga Nacional has in spades.  Its high quality has also made it the darling of successful experimental plantings in Priorat in Spain, California in the USA and in parts of Australia. It is also grown, in limited numbers, in parts of South Africa, where it is often blended with other grapes to make smooth, big, dark red blends.  If you're a fan of big full bodied dark red wines, try Touriga Nacional out for size - and complement it with a bottle of port while you're at it. Our wine specialists can point you in the right direction...