Tim and Margaret Coney founded Coney Wines on a 16-acre bare paddock in Martinborough more than 25 years ago. Not without much encouragement, the old barren sheep paddock quickly turned into a thriving 24/7 bustle of vine-tending, winemaking, marketing and restauranteuring. With each operation undertaken in the hallowed, self-flagellating Martinborough tradition - by manual labour!

The aim and guiding principles continue today with the ownership mantle of Coney Wines passed to long-time winemaker and daughter Lisa, and son-in-law Rusty in 2022. The Coney legacy of a small family-owned winery producing a range of beautiful wines that go perfectly with food, family and friends remains in place!

This is a sumptuously Riesling with 3.6 g/l of residual sugar and real depth and character made entirely with fruit from the local Martinborough five and a half hectare site.

Palliser Riesling is one of Martinborough's best kept white wine secrets and has texture and depth from 10% of the grapes being fermented in oak, with the balance in stainless steel and a finished residual sugar of 13.5 grams, which means this wine is medium dry - but it tastes crisp, citrusy and has great length. The finish is fresh and dry. 

Grapes in this wine come from Om Santi Vineyard (51%), with the balance split between Pinnacles and Palliser Vineyards.  

In conversion to organic certification.

Superbly refreshing, floral aromas with lime and honeysuckle. Off-dry, with a balanced acidity, fresh mineral flavours and a hint of apple
Great for that summer lunch

Cameron Douglas MS 93/100
A lovely wine in an off-dry expression. Aromas and flavours of green apple and lemon pith, honeysuckle and lime-flower. The sweetness is perfectly placed against a backdrop of acidity and ripe citrus and apple flavours. Balanced and well made, crisp and lengthy, a great aperitif style for Summer 2024.

Bob Campbell MW 93/100
"Medium-dry riesling with saline/oyster shell, lemon blossom, lime, and wild flower flavours. Initial sweetness is balanced by refreshing acidity which helps drive a lingering finish and creates mouth-tingling tension. Intense wine with cellaring potential"

This medium styled RIesling is produced by Greystone Wines, a family owned winery in the Waipara Valley, the heart of North Canterbury. 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. 

Greystone Riesling is one of our faves here in store and is a medium style with a nice balance of 23 grams per litre of residual sugar, which off sets the bright acidity and ensures that the overall flavours and style of the wine works in harmony. It contains 13% ABV and was made from grapes that contained a relatively low 8% botrytis, which adds weight and flesh to the wine. 

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. 

The name Mon Cheval is in homage to the owner's champion racehorse, Under Cover Lover, whose winning ways helped the dream of making wine possible. The 2.2 hectare vineyard is found at the entrance to Weka Pass in North Canterbury, and is planted with Pinot Noir and only a small amount of Riesling.

Meticulous handling and low yield farming create an elegant, concentrated Riesling from Central Otago producer, Prophet's Rock. Vinification methods used in this wine draw heavily from Alsatian winemaking. This is a wine rich with lemon and floral notes, with an underlying mineral backbone. 

Commercial description

This aromatic wine features a delightful blend of lemon, lime, and red apple, complemented by subtle floral notes. On the palate, you?ll experience a crisp and just off-dry taste that leaves a lovely length and a mineral finish. With every sip, you?ll be transported to the sunny hillsides where this wine was crafted, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

Off-dry and simply delicious! Our pick for serious Riesling connoisseurs. The fruit character of the Southern Valleys is balanced by the minerality of the river gravels, all wrapped up in a dry, crisp acidity. 10+ years of aging potential if you have the self-control but drinking exceptionally well now.

Vinification
The grapes were machine harvested in the cool of the morning, cold settled and cool fermented in stainless steel tanks before blending and finishing for bottling in spring.

Analysis at bottling

pH 3.09 | T.A. 7.35 g/l | RS 4.5 g/l | Alcohol 12.5%

Black Estate - This Riesling is grown on the rolling slopes of our Damsteep Vineyard.  The site's dense clay and mineral limestone provide weight, texture and salivating freshness.  A true character.

This is an excellent quality dry Central Otago Riesling.

"Beautiful clarity of aromas in the grapefruit and lime-peel zone. Then abundant stony, flinty, wet rock complexity. Immensely fresh palate, this is full of life and has a very long, seamless run to a dry, flavorsome finish. Drink or hold. *Top 100 New Zealand Wines of 2018*"   (10/2018)

96 points James Suckling.

Tasting Notes
Nectarine stone, honey dew and lemon zest on the nose lead to a rich creamy texture, finishing with freshness and poise. A fantastic aperitif style that is also well matched with richer dishes of cheese, pork, charcuterie, seafood and poultry.
About the Wine
Grown at Red Bank Vineyard, Alexandra and featuring the Proprietor’s Grandfather, Sydney Neill Wine Merchant, on the label, Picnic Riesling is our perennial favourite and a wonderful introduction to the pleasure of Central Otago Riesling. We think it is just as much a dinner wine as a luncheon – equally enjoyable at home outdoors, as at the Captain’s Table. Hand harvested and crafted in to a delicious refreshing off-dry style appealing to just about everyone on the planet.

Vintage Comments
A mild, wet 2022 winter meant soils held a lot of water going into the spring and inter-row companion crops including clover, phacelia and barley got off to a strong start. Early spring was very cold and then as spring warmed up in November shoot growth was strong. Flowering started the first week in December and fruit set was considered good on most blocks. Mid-summer heat was high and growing degree days were above 2022 and on par with 2019 by the end of the season.

Picking dates were moving forward until the second half of March when the heat ran out and the final ripening was slow and cool. Harvest started on the 27th of March at Red Bank Vineyard and finished on the 21st of April at The First Paddock, Gibbston. Cropping levels were just short of the optimum 2022 crop.

VINEYARD MANAGEMENT - Soils are schist based gravelly loams. Own roots – cane cuttings from Felton Road. Single cane, one bunch per shoot and very close planted at 5500 vines per hectare. Both shoot and lateral thinned to reduce crop load. Leaves that expose the grapes when ripening are also plucked off to increase sunlight exposure in to the vine canopy. Hand harvested.

WINE MAKERS NOTES - Hand harvested on the 17th April 2023 at 21 Brix and whole bunch pressed, meaning that the press was loaded with the grapes as intact bunches, versus removing the stems first. This pressed juice was then steeped on those skins (in wine language we call that ‘skin contact’) for 14 hours to extract aromatics and flavour and then it was inoculated with yeast and fermented to ‘just off-dry’ wine. We then left the wine sitting in tank on its lees (spent yeast cells that boost body and complexity) for three months before bottling. Please note the International Riesling scale on the back label.

Tasting Notes
Lime blossom, orange rind, white lotus flower and schist mineral notes on the nose lead to a spicy tightly textured palate expressing gorgeous poise, drive and balance.
About the Wine
An estate grown, single block selection made from grapes grown at our Two Paddocks’ Red Bank Vineyard in Alexandra, Central Otago, our Dry Riesling is a thought provoking expression of this location. A balance of acidity and dryness means it’s a perfect fit for food matches - the perfect counter-balance to a creamy pasta dish like a cabonara, the fresh saltiness of Oysters kilpatrick and holds its own against vibrant and spicy Asian dishes.

Vintage Comments
A mild, wet 2022 winter meant soils held a lot of water going into the spring and inter-row companion crops including clover, phacelia and barley got off to a strong start. Early spring was very cold and then as spring warmed up in November shoot growth was strong. Flowering started the first week in December and fruit set was considered good on most blocks. Mid-summer heat was high and growing degree days were above 2022 and on par with 2019 by the end of the season.

Picking dates were moving forward until the second half of March when the heat ran out and the final ripening was slow and cool. Harvest started on the 27th of March at Red Bank Vineyard and finished on the 21st of April at The First Paddock, Gibbston. Cropping levels were just short of the optimum 2022 crop.

VINEYARD MANAGEMENT - Crafted from a tiny half-hectare block of clone 110 at Two Paddocks Red Bank Vineyard at Earnscleugh, Central Otago, which consistently produces the ripest and most intense Riesling on the estate. All grapes are grown using organic principles, hand harvested and fermented in stainless steel.

The soils in this block are well draining schist loam and the vines tend to thrive. Additionally, the hot day time temperatures that Alexandra experiences over summer encourages riper stone fruit flavours, until late afternoon when the ‘Roxburgh Doctor’ wind arrives and causes a dramatic drop in temperature and hence the significantly cooler nights that the region is known for.

WINE MAKERS NOTE: Whole bunch pressed and then a light racking before fermentation. An indigenous fermentation which took 5 weeks at between 14-21 degrees Celsius. The wine was then held on light lees until it was racked and filtered for clarity and stabilisation prior to bottling.