Top 25 wines of 2020

This wine is a labour of love and was made from hand picked grapes grown on the organically certified Ashmore Vineyard in Fairhall, Marlborough. A combination of spontaneous yeast and inoculated ferments (50/50) were taken to 12.5% ABV and residual sugar of 19.5 grams per litre, which makes this wine medium dry in style. It tastes like lemon zest and fresh ripe Granny Smith apples on speed? a gorgeous refreshing, full bodied Marlborough white wine made from one of the greatest grapes on Earth. 

A must try. 

Delicious complex champagne with great depth and super fresh flavours; amazing value for money. Andre Clouet Grand Reserve is aged on lees for four years before disgorgement. It's made from 100% Pinot Noir, which is where all its rich, deliciously toasty aromas come from and the style is a complex blend of wine from the 2015 vintage with depth of flavour coming from the 50% proportion of older reserve wines from 2014, 2013, 2012, 2008, 2005, 2004 and 2002. 

The dosage is 8 grams per litre, which makes it dry in taste and in style. 

This wine offers substantially more flavour than most champagnes at this price on the market today - and kicks many more expensive bubbles to touch too.

Champagne AndreClouet dates back to 1741. Today the family owns eight hectares of estate vines in the best middle slopes of Bouzy and Ambonnay in the Champagne region from which it makes (along with purchased grapes) great wines of richness and depth. André  Clouet Grand Reserve is one of our staff faves here at Regional and is made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes, all grown on grand cru vineyards and aged on lees for four years before disgorgement. That is significantly longer than the legal minimum of 18 months aging on lees, pre release, in the Champagne region. 

This long aging time provides great depth and complex flavours to this deliciously flavoursome non vintage champagne. It offers incredible taste and richness.

* The André Clouet Grande Reserve is also available in half bottles.

If you’re after a complex champagne made from the great Pinot Noir grape, try this.

Succulent dry white modelled on the great dry whites of Bordeaux. This classic and beautifully balanced, bone dry blend contains 44 % Sauvignon Blanc, 36 % Semillon, 11 % Clairette Blanche and 9% Chenin Blanc from South Africa's Western Cape.

What the critics say...

"There is no doubt that Duncan Savage is one of the best white wine winemakers in South Africa. His track record speaks for itself. Taming Sauvignon Blanc and more so, Semillon, from cool climate sites in the Cape, has revealed the real potential of these varietals in a blend to a whole new generation of winemakers and consumers. The 2015 however, must be Duncan's most anticipated wine with the vintage lauded as possibly the best ever in SA for white wines. A Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon based blend incorporates small amounts of Clairette Blanche and Chenin Blanc this year. This slightly bigger blend perhaps explains the wines broader aromatic profile. There is still the dusty lemon and herb spice, yellow grapefruit and lime peel freshness, but also extra notes of white pear, white pepper, white crunchy peaches and green apple zest. Once again, the pithy minerality of crushed gravel underpins both the nose and palate and there's an almost German, Pfalz-like strawberries and vanilla ice cream exotism in play. The palate is bold, intense and concentrated with pithy gravelly notes balanced by massive fruit concentration and length. The vintage's sublime quality is indeed standing up to be counted! Duncan has perfectly captured the essence of 2015's greatness. But the wine remains classical, measured, restrained and fresh and finally unlocks its hallmark lemon and pineapple pastille fruit character on the long, intense finish. This is a truly grand expression, a wine that will demand its place in your cellar. Could this be Duncan's greatest white expression to date?" Drink now to 2028+ (96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Bodega Terras Gauda overlooks the gentle green countryside of Galicia in north west Spain where its vineyards are planted. Terras Gauda uses its own yeasts, selected from its vineyards. These yeasts are unique to the winery and have been patented. This is one of the reasons the TG wines are so consistent because they don?t need to rely on commercial yeasts.

Chill this wine to 12 degrees and break out your best seafood, recommends wine importer Sophie Cotter, who brings this wine into New Zealand. 

Albarino is on trend globally right now and originally comes from north west Spain and the north of Portugal, where makes its fresh, zesty, dry as a bone and super flavoursome taste go particularly well with seafood. This wine comes from Terras Gauda Winery on the Spanish side of the Minho River, which separates Portugal from Spain.This region and its Portuguese counterpart over the border is the original home for the Albarino grape, known in Portugal as Alvarinho.

This 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, Carmen?re, 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, her partner Phil Nunweek and winemaker Evert Nijzink.  

Petit Manseng is a rarely known, refreshing white grape grown in a small appellation in the south of France where it makes outstanding wines such as this fresh, bright and complex sweet white wine. This is one of our absolute faves here at Regional and a wine we admire greatly from one of the smallest wineries in New Zealand's biggest wine region, Marlborough. 

Churton founder and winemaker Sam Weaver cut his teeth on the classic wines of the world while working in fine wine retail in the United Kingdom. His background is in microbiology and he was raised on a farm, so when he and his wife Mandy founded Churton Estate, it combined all of his passions. The couple and their adult sons, have created one of this country's most high quality small wineries, which lives up to the dream of creating 100% estate grown grapes, 100% certified organic production and 100% bottled on site, nearly all of the wines without fining or filtration. All grapes are hand picked and natural yeasts ferment the majority of Churton wines. These incremental qualitative decisions impact at every step of their winemaking provides exceptional quality grapes which in turn express themselves in outstanding wines.

Timorasso is one of the great white grapes of northern Italy and it nearly died out following phylloxera in the late 1800s, until it was revived in the small Colli Tortonesi DOC of Piedmonte.

Timorasso produces wine that is structured and elegant and capable of aging for a surprisingly long time in bottle. On the nose the wine shows notes of white peach, honey, acacia, hawthorn blossom, and chamomile, developing smoky and mineral notes with age. 

This is a great dry white that gets better with age and is also hugely complex right now. 

Nautilus Cuvee Brut is inspired by the richness and depth of Bollinger Special Cuvee, which in turn takes its inspiration from Pinot Noir - which provides the toasty depths of flavour, along with three years ageing on lees in bottle, before release. The result is a dry, full bodied, deliciously yeasty sparkling wine is a blend of 71.4% Pinot Noir and 28.6% Chardonnay. All grapes are hand picked, fermented with a champagne yeast with only the first run of juice going to fermentation to retain a fineness in flavour and texture. The wine typically contains 5 to 15% of reserve wines, held back from previous vintages, to add complexity and consistency to the wine. 

It is aged on lees in bottle for three years prior to disgorgement, which takes place regularly to ensure every bottle on the market remains fresh in flavour. 

Winemaker Clive Jones creates a consistently vibrant sparkling wine here which has pronounced yeasty, fresh bread aromas and rich savoury flavours. 

Nautilus is a member of Methodé Marlborough, a group of quality minded winemakers in the country's biggest wine region, who have dedicated themselves to producing sparkling wines with a minimum of 18 months aging in the bottle and made 100% from grapes grown in their region.

One of the best South Island Pinot Noir with its gentle spicy aromas, deep earthy flavours and beautiful structural style, supported by lifted red berry and cherry aromas. This is a stunning wine. 

Greystone is a North Canterbury's winery situated in the Waipara Valley where its vines are planted on the limestone rich hillsides with north facing aspects and producing 100% estate grown, 100% certified organic wines. This wine consistently over delivers with savoury flavours, a silky character and the ability to age extremely well, thanks to Dom Maxwell's winemaking and great viticulture from the Greystone team in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury.

It's one of our favourites here at Regional because it consistently over delivers with savoury flavours reminding many of us of the great mushrooms of the world and the complex taste of outstanding Pinot Noirs. This wine has elegance, a silky character and the ability to age extremely well, thanks to Dom Maxwell's winemaking and great viticulture from the Greystone team in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. 

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 fleshy, savoury, super silky and earthy Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on a small .8 of a hectare situated on the road to Castlepoint in the northern Wairarapa. The first vintage was 2016 and the wine is a  collaboration between winemakers Karl Johner and Raphael Burki. All grapes in this smooth Pinot were hand harvested with 20% whole bunch to provide floral and fruit aroma lift and silkiness. The wine was aged for 12 months in French oak, 20% new, and bottled without filtering or fining. It is vegan friendly.Lime Hill Pinot Noir is made from a small vineyard of .8 of a hectare situated on the road to Castlepoint in the northern Wairarapa. The first vintage was in 2016 and the brand is a  collaboration between winemakers Karl Johner (of Johner Wines at Gladstone) and Raphael Burki, who have been making wine together since 2009. 

This wine is bottled without any filtering or fining. It is vegan friendly.

Here's a great little red blend from Antinori, which is a gorgeous expression of the insanely beautiful Tuscany region, but which is made from an interesting mix of Italian and French grapes. Sangiovese leads the way here with small quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, all grown in Tuscany. 

Antinori's winemakers describe this wine as firm bodied on the palate, supple with  velvety tannins and a long, savoury aftertaste.

One of New Zealand?s best bubbles and one of its most consistent, complex handmade wines; it's typically a 70/30 blend of toasty flavours from Pinot Noir with crisp citrus creamy ones from Chardonnay. It comes from one of the country's oldest producers of traditional method sparkling wine - Rudi Bauer in Central Otago, who pioneered Quartz Reef Brut NV in the early days of Otago as a wine region.

Quartz Reef Brut NV began life when winemaker Rudi Bauer teamed up with a visiting French winemaker Clothilde Chauvet (daughter of champagne maker Marc Chauvet). Together they pioneered this high quality, traditional method sparkling wine, using mostly Pinot Noir (now 72% of the blend) with the balance being Chardonnay. The wine is typically aged for two years on lees in bottle following its second fermentation - longer than most champagnes. No wonder it massively over delivers on both taste and price. This is a stunning sparkling wine. Ignore at your peril.