Sensational certified organic Marlborough Pinot Noir with dark fruit flavours, elegant structure and a spicy style. All grapes in this wine were hand picked and 20% were whole bunch fermented in large French oak with no crushing. Light extraction is the aim, says winemaker Damien Yvon, who gave the wine less than three weeks of total post ferment maceration time. The finished wine was then aged for 12 months in French oak, 20% of which was new ? a relatively modest amount, which allows the fruit to be hero in this wine. It is a beautifully refined, silky and elegant Pinot Noir.

Clos Henri began 22 years ago in Marlborough when the French Bourgeois family expanded their winemaking from the heart of Sancerre in the tiny village of Chavignol to Blenheim, in 2001. Now that their vines are 22 years of age , the family feels that they are only now starting to reflect and express the taste of the land. This family retains their land and winemaking in Chavignol where they have made wine for 11 generations.

Beautiful bright black cherries are captured in a structured full bodied Pinot Noir with delicacy and light notes of earth, spice and summer berries. This is the best Whitehaven Pinot Noir yet, made mostly from grapes grown in Marlborough's Southern Valley sub-region.  A stunner and incredibly good value for money. 

This wine drinks beautifully now (in 2024) and will certainly age well for at least five years. 

Whitehaven Wines began life in 1994 as a romantic business for a couple of corporate escapees, Sue and Greg White, who had given up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht. When sailing around the country, they took shelter in the Marlborough Sounds from Pacific storms and fell in love with the region. An easy thing to do when harbouring in the spectacularly pristine waters of the Sounds. They decided to settle there on terra firma once more and try their hands at wine production, hiring a winemaker and beginning a business which has now been around for 26 years. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery. Their winemaker is Peter Jackson.

Red, purple hue. Dense nose of dark cherry and plum fruits. Subtle oak and typical GV salinity. On the palate this wine is rich, but also tightly woven. Dark fruit is fleshed out by toasty oak and firm fruit tannins. Great balance of acidity.

Dark red, purple hue. Dark brooding nose of plum and cherry, smoky stalk tannins and toasty oak. The palate is opulent with good weight and texture. Fruit is balanced by chalky tannins and nice acidity.

Fresh red berry fruits aromas combine with a distinctive dried herb nose, with layers of pot pourri and spice. Chalky tannins and lively acidity entwine around a core of vibrant red fruits. This is a fresh and aromatic wine of elegance and poise.

Deliciously spicy, aromatic red fruit are captured in this silky Pinot Noir from Astrolabe Wines, which is a blend of grapes from four Marlborough sub regions, the Brancott and Waihopai, the Awatere and Kekerengu on the southern coast of the broader region. 

The grapes in this wine were fermented with wild yeasts in open top vats, including a portion of whole bunches to provide structure and add complexity to the pristine red fruit flavours in this wine. Wild yeasts and hot ferments are followed by aging in old French oak barrels where the wine gains its smooth mouthfeel and savoury flavours.

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters. 

Marlborough PInot Noir from certified organic, hand picked grapes given wild yeast fermentation which results in a complex, smooth and savoury tinged wine with impressively smooth mouthfeel and a long finish. The wine aged for 18 months in French oak, 30% new, This wine is complex when youthful but also has great aging potential of up to 10 years, potentially longer. This is a stunner from an extremely experienced winemaking team. Certified organic with BioGro NZ.

Deep and ripe Pinot Noir from a selection of five vineyards in Waipara. Great concentration and oodles of fruit. 

About the winery...

"The company takes its name from an early Canterbury resident, surveyor and farmer, Englishman Charles Torlesse. He gave his name to the Torlesse mountain range which part circles the Canterbury Plains and was at one time the largest land owner and farmer in North Canterbury and founder of the nearby town of Rangiora. Interestingly, the name Torlesse is given to the underlying bedrock from which most New Zealand soils are derived ? Torlesse, the terroir of New Zealand!



Our winery first started its life as a farm woolshed. In 1987 it was converted into a winery for Glenmark Wines by John McCaskey and Torlesse Wines moved to Waipara in 1991 and still share the production facilities. Many additions have made the winery self-sufficient in all aspects of winemaking from crushing to bottling, a claim that some wineries can not make."

New good-value Pinot Noir from Central Otago where Pinot rules over 80 per cent of the vineyard area and makes gorgeous fruit driven reds with medium body and fresh, cool climate notes of bright acidity and earthy tones. Lovely new addition to our shelves.
The wine brand is owned by two families who grow the grapes and employ experienced winemakers in the region to produce their wines. The philosophy of the owners is to produce high quality wines made from hand picked grapes from vineyard sites with low yields, using wild yeast fermentations, minimal sulphur additions and using sustainable practices as much as possible. This is their quest and the wines are elegant renditions of Otago's edgy climate with its hot summer days and cool seasons on both sides of ripening. 

Aroha is the Maori word for love and plenty of TLC has gone into tending the grapes that go into this full bodied Pinot Noir from the Te Muna Valley in Martinborough. 

This is the pinnacle Pinot Noir made by Craggy Range and represents a wine that can age superbly as well as drinking well now; preferably decanted. 

Red and black cherry flavours are supported by gentle smooth French oak ageing.

Te Muna is the majestic valley situated 9 kilometres east of Martinborough village and it's home to a growing number of high quality, super tasty wines, such as this one from the new Butterworth estate, formerly known as Julicher.

This Pinot Noir is made from three clones of Pinot; clones 5, Abel, 666 and 667, which each contributes different interesting elements of complexity to this wine, which is made entirely from grapes grown on the Ranger Block. This is the new name for the home block at the Julicher Vineyard site. Winemaker Martin Bell matured this Pinot Noir for 11 months in French oak, 25% new. It has great fruit weight and concentration, which Bell says comes from both the clones and because it?s a barrel selection of his best Pinot Noirs, so a combination of winemaking methods finds its way into this lovely Pinot Noir. 

Palliser Estate Pinot Noir is one of our favourites here at Regional, made with hand picked grapes grown on three vineyards in Martinborough - Hua Nui, home block and Pencarrow. Flavours of red fruit, smoky oak, a velvet texture and full body all make this incredibly elegant wine a keeper for up to five years. It also drinks beautifully now with its smooth texture and freshness. 

The grapes were given 5% whole bunch fermentation which adds structure, which is accentuated by French oak aging for 10 months.

Bottled in March 2023.

What the critics say

"Silky, smooth and powerfully elegant Pinot Noir from Palliser Estate."

Joelle Thomson, wine writer and wine programme director for Regional Wines

An approachable, bright and lively Pinot Noir with beautiful juicy red fruits and good structure.

Smoky, fruity and savoury; aromas of dark cherry, charred oak, bramble, plum and charcuterie float from the glass. On the palate is liquorice and black forest fruits- cherry, blackberry, plum and boysenberry- kissed with smoky, toasty oak and a hint of dark chocolate. The tannins are supple and fine, teasing out the long, mouth watering finish.

Fabulous Pinot Noir with amazing depth of flavour especially at this price; a wine that really puts Marlborough's best foot forward thanks to winemaker Rebecca Salmond, who sources grapes from the region's Southern Valleys. Flavours are of ripe cherry, blackberry and spice lead into a lovely, elegant yet weighty palate with superb fruit ripeness and intensity. This wine will continue to age for two years plus and pairs well with lighter red meat dishes.

Savoury dried herbs and earthy notes lead into this impressively structured Pinot Noir from the Gibbston Valley, the last region typically to harvest its grapes each year in Central Otago. This cool climate is expressed in this wine in the high acidity and dried herb notes, which add depth and complexity to the weighty red plum notes and lovely full body. An impressive wine from a very good vintage and likely to shine in 10 years' time - if it lasts that long. 

Released and on the market now. Ageing time: potentially 10 to 11 years+.

The four Valli Pinot Noirs

The four sub regions that winemaker Grant Taylor makes Pinot Noir from each year encompass widely varying landscapes, soil types and climates from the maritime influenced weather in the Waitaki Valley Vineyard on the ironically named Grant's Road; a site that Grant Taylor owns, through to the semi continental climates of Gibbston, Bannockburn and Bendigo. 

Bendigo

Valli Bendigo Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on the Chinaman's Terrace Vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago. This elevated vineyard was planted in 2005 between 314 metres and 374 metres above sea level with five different Pinot Noir clones; Abel, 115, UCD5, 667 and 777. The soils are shallow sandy loams with a high clay content and also include a small lower section with gravel soils.  Bendigo has a semi continental, arid climate. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Bannockburn

Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Hall Vineyard, which was planted in 2000 in Bannockburn at 350 metres above sea level. This area has a semi continental climate. It is planted with six different clones of Pinot Noir; namely, 777, 115, 10/5, UCD5, 113 and 13. The soils here are wind blown loess over schist bedrock. They are deep, moderately sandy and free draining. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Gibbston Valley

Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Gibbston Highway, which were planted between 1999 and 2000 at between 343 and 351 metres above sea level. The Pinot Noir clones on this site are 777, 115, UCD5 and 114. Soils are alluvial loess which ranges from 0.5 to 1 metre deep over firm river gravels.

Rainfall is lower here than in Bannockburn and Bendigo. The climate is considered semi continental. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Waitaki Valley

Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on Grant's Road in the Waitaki Valley, a maritime influenced climate planted between 2004 and 2005 at 200 metres above sea level on limestone based soils. River gravels also make up some of the soil type here and vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.