North Canterbury

The Main Divide is the name of the majestic Southern Alps, which form the back bone of the South Island, and it is also the name of a range of great value wines which consistently over deliver on depth of flavour and complexity for the price. 

This Pinot Noir is made 100% from North Canterbury grapes, 25% of which were whole bunch fermented with natural yeasts. The wine was given a week long, post ferment maceration in French oak, approximately 20% new.

It's a weighty, earthy style with lively dark and red fruit flavours. It delivers big time for the money.

One of New Zealand's best Gewurztraminers - rich full bodied, medium sweet style nicely balanced by refreshing high acidity due to the cool climate of the South Island. 

Its aromas are of ripe mandarin, rose and Turkish Delight with notes of fresh ginger that complement the richness of this great white from Mat Donaldson and his talented winemaking team at Pegasus Bay Winery in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. 

Pegasus Bay whites have the X factor and this awesome blend of four grapes is no exception. It's made from Semillon and Chardonnay which add toasty, rich, dry and creamy notes to this off beat wine style. Ultra ripe Semillon from 33 year old vines was fermented naturally with its solids to add some funky complexity, and then aged on lees in old oak barrels for 2 ? years. A little Gewurztraminer and Muscat add aromatic interest and appeal. 

The longer than usual period in oak has given this wine a toasty and nutty character, with extra richness on the palate. There are also hints of citrus blossom and some floral notes. Skin contact during the fermentation has added savouriness, however, the wine still has crisp acidity that provides for a lively and refreshing finish. A full bodied and complex wine, not for the faint hearted. Funkier than a night on the town with James Brown!

A special delicate expression of Pinot Noir made in the vineyard from start to finish; the grapes are fermented entirely in the vineyard in which they were grown. It's been a happy and extremely successful experiment at Greystone Winery, which is one of North Canterbury's wine stars situated on the slopes of limestone rich hills in Omihi. All of the grapes that go into Greystone wines are 100% certified organic with BioGro NZ and all are estate grown. No additional fruit is purchased to supplement production, which is one of many incremental steps that go into Greystone's high quality wines.

This wine grew from an experiment that first took place in 2012 where wild yeasts were captured in the vineyard and used to ferment a Pinot Noir in the vineyard. It sounds only natural but is in fact highly unusual because grapes tend to be taken to the winery for fermentation. In this case, the winery ferment vessels came to the grapes.

The result is a slower than usual fermentation, due to cooler temperatures, especially at night time. 

This delicate Pinot shines a new light on this noble grape, which tastes silky, vibrant, fresh and delicate with a lingering finish and interesting flavour notes. 

It?s a wine for the cellar ? or a special occasion in your finest glassware now or soon. 

* This wine was one of only two in New Zealand to make it onto the 2020 Top 100 Wine Discoveries by North American wine critic Robert Parker.

Certified organic with BioGro NZ.

About Greystone

The Greystone wine story began in 2000 when the Thomas Family bought an old sheep farm on the Omihi hills in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. The rolling limestone hills lured this family in and their goal was a single minded one: to make great wines from the limestone rich soils here. Fast forward 20 years and Greystone is one of the great (and, some might say, yet to be fully discovered) wineries in this outstanding wine region. Not least due to the work of winemaker Dom Maxwell and general manager Nick Gill, who began working together in 2005 and has grown along with the brand and quality. 

Greystone is one of North Canterbury's wine stars situated on the slopes of limestone rich hills in Omihi. All of the grapes that go into Greystone wines are 100% certified organic with BioGro NZ and all are estate grown. No additional fruit is purchased to supplement production, which is one of many incremental steps that go into Greystone's high quality wines. 

This Sauvignon Blanc was 100% barrel fermented in old oak with wild yeasts and is made from fully certified organic grapes with BioGro NZ certification. Like all Greystone wines, it is made entirely from estate grown fruit with nothing bought in to supplement production. This is one of many incremental steps at Greystone that consistently ensures high quality. Partial malolactic fermentation provides creamy flavour notes to this wine, which are kept in check with the balance of bright acidity and a light spicy taste which further adds complexity.

Certified organic with BioGro NZ.

About Greystone

The Greystone wine story began in 2000 when the Thomas Family bought an old sheep farm on the Omihi hills in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. The rolling limestone hills lured this family in and their goal was a single minded one: to make great wines from the limestone rich soils here. Fast forward 20 years and Greystone is one of the great (and, some might say, yet to be fully discovered) wineries in this outstanding wine region. Not least due to the work of winemaker Dom Maxwell and general manager Nick Gill, who began working together in 2005 and has grown along with the brand and quality.

This stunning South Island Sauvignon Semillon blend is a maverick New Zealand take on the classic white Bordeaux blend, offering fresh, bright and delicious aromas of ripe apple, lime, gooseberry and passionfruit. The Sauvignon (70%) brings fruit flavours and excellent acidity while the Semillon (30%) brings fruit weight, richness and age ability, due to its pronounced acidity. 

Both varieties were aged on their natural deposits of yeast lees for approximately 10 months, prior to blending. This lees contact brings creaminess and body. Once bottled, the wine was left to age for another year before release, allowing the varietal characters to integrate further.

This wine drinks deliciously well now, preferably served in a large glass, but it has a long history of great age ability too and is a good wine for the cellar.

The Main Divide is the name of the Southern Alps and a range of great wines made by the Pegasus Bay winemaking team. These wines consistently over deliver, drink beautifully when young with their rich and opulent house style - and also age surprisingly well, given the modest price they cost.

The Riesling grapes in this wine were picked over several weeks at between 23-25 brix, which creates rich, tasty Riesling. Fermentation was in stainless steel at cool temperatures and the finished wine retains a little carbon dioxide, which accentuates fresh zingy flavours in the wine, which contains 24 grams of residual sugar.

It's a full bodied, opulent style with a crisp finish.

Crater Rim Riesling is medium sweet in style but so beautifully balanced by fresh  acidity that it tastes medium dry with great concentration of tropical fruit flavours and a succulent, long finish. It's made with grapes grown on Glasnevin Gravels, one of North Canterbury's golden miles of vineyards.

Winemaker Haydon Good worked for Clemens Busch in the Mosel, from which he says one of his take home pieces of information for making Riesling was to make picking decision on acidity then balance the wine with residual sugar, depending on the season and the acidity. That philosophy comes through bright, fresh and clear in this stunningly good value Riesling. 

Albarino is a grape from the Galicia region in Spain. It is known for making fairly pale, high acid wines with distinctive aromatic stone-fruit qualities. This is a new varietal for North Canterbury, which has shown promising results for this grape. The nose on this wine is rich with classic stone-fruit, spice and citrus notes. The palate is concentrated and juicy, with great acid brightness.

A little old oak fermentation adds flesh and weight to this medium sweet style of Pinot Gris, which has rich flavours and characterful spicy white pear aromas. This North Canterbury Riesling has residual sugar between 10 and 20 grams per litre, which is beautifully balanced by fresh acidity which adds purity and tension to this lively wine.

This is made from organically certified grapes grown on the banks of the Waipara River in North Canterbury.

The region's cool nights and hot days add length to the ripening season, which makes it easy to ripen grapes with rich flavours. 

* Terrace Edge was named the New Zealand Organic Vineyard of the Year in 2018 and this year was named Aotearoa New Zealand Organic Winery of the Year.

North Canterbury is the heart and soul of New Zealand's greatest Rieslings, including this aptly named classic from Terrace Edge - it's made from grapes grown on a vineyard along the edge of the Waipara River. 

This wine is a full bodied, medium dry Riesling with ripe citrus, peach and honey flavours. It's made from hand-picked grapes and is fermented to a near-dry style while retaining richness from the residual sugar, which is balanced by Riesling's naturally  high acidity. 

This wine is certified organic. 

* Terrace Edge was named the New Zealand Organic Vineyard of the Year in 2018 and this year was named Aotearoa New Zealand Organic Winery of the Year. 

Made from riesling hand-picked from the same vines multiple times in late autumn, choosing only the most beautifully noble botrytic fruit on each occasion. Further hand selection was done in the winery retaining only the best berries. These were gently pressed and a small amount of very rich juice at 45 brix was obtained. It was allowed to settle and the clarified portion was then fermented over many months at low temperatures in order to help retain its special aromas and flavours. The juice was so concentrated that when the fermentation stopped it still had a rich, natural sweetness. It was made in the style of an Alsatian Selection de Grains Nobles or a German Trockenbeerenausl?sen.

The wine is a bright lemon-gold colour. The abundant aromas and flavours evoke impressions of ripe cantaloupe melon, mango, pineapple, lychees, and manuka honey. On the palate, the wine is rich and unctuous. Underneath this, however, there is a streak of minerality and fine acidity that keep it fresh, lively and refined, drawing out its lingering after flavours.

Source - Pegasus Bay

Exceptional North Canterbury Pinot Noir made in small volumes from the evocatively named isolated hill vineyard in Waiau. Spicy aromas and structured tannins lead into a full body wine made using indigenous yeast fermentation and spending 26 days on skins with ageing for 15 months in French oak.

This wine comes from winemaker Dom Maxwell, the talented winemaker at Greystone. Forager is his own personal winemaking project. 

Succulent blend of two great white grapes originally from Bordeaux in south west France and now put to deliciously intense use in this sweet, raisony and super concentrated luscious white wine. Botrytis plays a strong role in this delicious wine with its lingering flavours and deep, full body. 

Mat Donaldson and his talented winemaking team create this fabulous Riesling, which is modelled on the best full bodied wines from both Germany and Austria. It is made from grapes given a long hang time on the vines and is, consistently, one of New Zealand's greatest white wines every year, thanks to winemaker Mat Donaldson and his talented team of Riesling devotees at Pegasus Bay Winery in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. It is succulent, medium dry, concentrated and rich in taste with a honeyed texture and and notes of lemongrass, lemon zest and ripe mandarins leading into a full bodied, weighty, off dry white with high but balanced acidity providing a long finish.

* This wine may form a natural sediment over time due to the winery's minimal handling philosophy. It has been cold stabilised by the winemaking team at Pegasus Bay.