NEW ZEALAND WINE

Harmonie du Soir is French for evening harmony and is the evocative name for this outstanding red made from grapes grown on the small Puriri Hills Vineyard in the Clevedon Hills, south of Auckland.

The wine's name is taken from Baudelaire?s reflection on sensory magic, the condition of all natural elements being in harmony for a brief moment, which is certainly appropriate for such a high quality wine, modelled on the best from Bordeaux. 

Puriri Hills founder Judy Fowler takes her inspiration from Bordeaux for all her wines, which are solely made from red grapes and all blends with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot playing starring and supporting roles.

She suggests this dark, spicy red can be cellared for at least 15 years in cool dark cellar conditions. 

This is our pick of the super tasty bunch of beautifully fragrant, structured, lingeringly flavoursome Corafin Pinot Noirs and is from the Settlement Vineyard, which is situated in the Southern Valleys in Marlborough. It is an outstandingly concentrated, full bodied style of Pinot, proof that this country's biggest wine region is far from a one trick pony - and is also certified organic. 

Dark and spicy, full bodied and complex. A wine to drink now and to keep. Giesen's Clayvin Syrah has aromas of blueberry, plum, cinnamon and nutmeg with aniseed notes leading into a powerful palate full of texture and concentration with a lingering savoury finish. Whole bunches make up a component of this wine, which add depth, weight, structure and spicy notes. 

Clayvin was the first hillside vineyard in Marlborough and is now certified organic and is home to a small number of Syrah vines. 

Puriri Hills - The vineyard is set in green rolling hills southeast of Auckland, New Zealand, just outside of the village of Clevedon. From the main road, a long driveway climbs past vineyards which produced their first handmade, blended red wine in 1999. Grown and produced entirely on the property, the wines are gaining recognition as serious contenders to the best right bank Bordeaux.

Region: Clevedon, Auckland
Varietal: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Malbec

Syrah is one of the great reds of Hawke's Bay and this wine gains its full body, impressive structure and dry spicy flavours from the addition of whole clusters of grapes to the fermentation. 

It's a powerful big red with flavours of dark plum and spiced fruit.

The 2020 vintage was warm and dry, ideal for making wines to cellar. This wine can age for 10 years+. 

The Prophet?s Rock Pinot Gris comes from both the Home and Rocky Point vineyards. Planting in these warmer areas of Central Otago and practising careful viticulture allows for the production of a very aromatic style of Pinot Gris, while retaining the trademark freshness of the region. This wine has achieved an avid following and wide acclaim, despite very limited production.

The vinification is heavily influenced by winemaker Paul Pujol's time in Alsace where use of wild yeast, multiple small vessels and long ageing are the norm. After long slow ferments the various components are aged on their yeast lees before bottling.

A unique parcel within Rippon, Tinker's Field is a gentle, north facing slope formed by an ancient ejection cone of coarse schist gravels and is home to the oldest vines on the property. It is named after Rippon's visionary founder, Rolfe Mills (Tink to his friends), and the land that he had dreamed of farming since childhood.

If the words Fum? Blanc bring to mind a bygone era, try this beautiful modern dry wine, which is Malcolm Rees-Francis' take on the theme and has flavours of creamy, savoury notes, complementing a beautiful full bodied Sauvignon Blanc style. It's made from handpicked grapes fermented in barrel in order to coax complexity, texture and weight from Sauvignon Blanc.

All the grapes were grown on Rockburn Winery's Parkburn Vineyard and the grapes were fermented with wild yeasts in French oak. 

Albari?o is a classic Galician white grape variety from north western Spain, which thrives in New Zealand and tastes of fabulous aromatic lemon zest with green olive and freshly picked apple aromas. Forrest Estate winemaker Beth Forrest first encountered it in Spain and was smitten immediately. This led to Albarino being brought into New Zealand by Riversun Nurseries in Gisborne and, eventually, to growing in Marlborough where Beth and her famous winemaking father, John, Forrest, both love it and produce this fabulous dry white wine.

This wine shows all the classical Albari?o elements with a New Zealand touch of vibrant acidity, white peach, pear, apricots and quince, with an orange zest undertone.

Craggy Range chief winemaker Julian Grounds uses an old heritage clone of Syrah to make this full bodied, deeply coloured red with its spicy flavours and fresh fruit forward style. Syrah is the second most planted red grape in Hawke?s Bay after Merlot and 70% of the grapes in this wine were hand harvested, 18% whole bunch fermented with the remaining 82% destemmed. They were all fermented with indigenous yeasts and the wine was aged in French oak, 25% new, for 14 months. 

The result is one of our best value and best tasting local Syrahs under $30. An extraordinary wine for the price. 

We love it and think it represents outstanding value for money. 

Try it. 

This wine is one of the country's best Pinot Noirs, having won an extremely long string of awards and accolades over the decades, which both winemakers, Clive Paton and Helen Masters, attribute to, among other things, 40% of the wine being made from the Abel clone of Pinot Noir. This clone was famously (true story) brought in via a gumboot from a grand cru vineyard in Burgundy, France; the traditional classic home to the Pinot grape.

Abel brings structure and intensity to Pinot Noir, as does the climate in the Wairarapa, which heavily reduces potential yields at flowering time in spring, resulting in smaller bunch architecture and more intense flavours as a direct result. 

This wine drinks well now and undoubtedly has a long life ahead for those with wine cellars - and willpower.

A New Zealand classic - for good reason.

The name Ata Rangi is Maori for dawn sky and was chosen to portray the new beginning that the start of this winery represented for founder Clive Paton in the late 1970s.

Millton Vineyard is a key pioneer of Viognier, producing this one from vines grown on the silt banks of the Waipoa River in the Gisborne region. This is a dry, full bodied and textural wine with ripe apricot skin and peachy flavours. It drinks well now and will continue to age gracefully for the medium term; five to six years and possibly even longer. 

Spicy new, medium bodied Pinot Noir with lifted aromas of red flowers, ripe plums and hints of spicy macerated cherries, all held together in a smooth, silky wine made by  Julian Richards with grapes from the Ashmore Vineyard, owned by Dog Point Vineyards. 

This wine was aged in a combination of older oak puncheons for 30% of the wine with the balance being in stainless steel. 

"I'm trying to express the fact that style can be one simple change in the winemaking technique and Pinot Noir is a beautiful way to express that."

The other wine made from the same vineyard by Richards is called Fractal Pinot Noir. Both come from the 2020 vintage, one of the best years this century. 

Impressively juicy Cabernet Franc from Hawke's Bay winemaker Jenny Dobson, who has extensive experience making wine from this great grape in Bordeaux, France. She applies her knowledge and winemaking skills of wild yeast, whole bunches in the ferment and foot plunging (her own feet) to coax the best from this full bodied, deep purple Cabernet Franc.

It's named after her aunt Francie and made as a tribute to her. 

Dobson describes this wine has tasting of red roses, spicy raspberries and scented velvet. 

This is one of our best Pinot Noirs under $25 and consistently exceptional drinking at this price, thanks to fruit forward flavours of red cherries which are underpinned by refreshing acidity kept in balance by an under tow of savoury, earthy flavours. 

It's made by Martinborough winemaker John Douglas, who owns a small vineyard on Te Muna Road, 9 kilometres west of Martinborough village. This four hectare plot of organically certified vineyard land is home to the grapes that go into this excellent Pinot Noir, which over delivers on value, flavour and style.

Te Muna Valley has the same stony soils as vineyards the better known  vineyards around Martinborough village. It also has a slightly windier, slightly cooler climate, both factors that combine to make for challenges in the volume of grapes produced but exceptional depth of flavour in the great wines from this valley.