See this guide to our autumn collections for how to get the most our of our assortments of reviews of wines tasted recently by the whole team.
With a mere 40 or so tasting notes, this is one of our smaller collections, but do also see the tasting notes from Jancis and Julia in a series of relatively recent articles in this list of tasting articles on New Zealand.
Tasting notes are listed by colour and then in declining score order.
WHITE
Starts very well with sleek and unexaggerated aromas of lime and...
RS 4g/l. Tamra Washington made this on the vast Awatere Valley...
100% Sauvignon Blanc grown on the ancient soils of Ara’s single...
100% Riesling from vineyards scattered through Awatere and...
Very standard tart asparagus. Falls away. (JR)
Loads of early petrol development – remarkably vocal. Pithy...
Richer than the Village bottling but I'm not sure I prefer it. I...
Very lively and jewelly. So precise and appetising. GV (JR)
Soft, supple mouthfeel. Actually quite restrained. Difficult to...
Very telling nose – the oak is much reduced whereas the...
Herbal, fresh, zesty. Gooseberries, of course. Pure and rounded...
The debut vintage of this variety from south west France...
100% Chardonnay fruit drawn from 10 different vineyards planted...
Bright pale gold. Chalky scent and then lots of green fruit and...
A bit opulent for me. Rich. Definitely very different from...
Biodynamic. Fruit from the Matawhero subregion, planted 1997...
RED
Crunchy fruit, leathery and medicinal notes on the palate...
Sweet oak, a bit of herbal interest on the palate. Yielding...
Sweet, creamy oak on the nose. Fragrant palate with a charming...
Curious that their most expensive cuvée is the least alcoholic...
Heady, spirity nose. Plenty of fruit, but the sweet, heavy...
Rich fruit, and plenty of body. Pinot nudging 15% is always...
50% Merlot, 40% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet...
100% Pinot Noir harvested from mid-March to early-April by a...
Lovely stuff. Exuberant and violet perfumed. Long. (JR)
Beautifully ripe fruit, creamy oak, meaty and peppery – real wow...
A bit mealy and indistinct on the nose. Not quite fresh enough....
100% Pinot Noir. De-stemmed. Fermented up to 30 °C with total...
Very juicy red fruit – cherry, strawberry. Unmistakably...
100% Pinot Noir planted on upper Martinborough Terrace with...
Blend from the Eaton, Cowley and Calrossie vineyards in southern...
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (36.4%), Cabernet Franc (27.3%)...
Two parcels from Te Muna Road. 100 cases. Very closed nose...
Single clone (114). 100% whole bunch fermentation. 70 cases...
Cool and damp year. Cork sealed. Bronze garnet shade. Glossy...
Warm but damp year, lots of millerandage. Mid garnet. Fragrant...
From magnum. Dark garnet. A warm vintage, with much riper and...
From double magnum. Rather dense and closed. Grainy tannins...
An ‘exceptional’ vintage – worst flowering ever, with an...
Glossy ruby. Rather closed on the palate, and a little more...
A warm year. A little oak detectable on the nose here, as well...
One of the coolest years. The teeniest hint of reduction on the...
15% of the blend had 85% whole bunch fermentation. Closed...
Bright crimson. Lots of vegy notes and quite muscular. Well made...
