Young Viti of the year seeks to highlight the importance of those who work amongst the vines, a crucial and complex role in the winemaking process. This year’s winner hails from Auckland’s Soljans Estate in West Auckland - Tai Nelson and is one of the youngest ever to win the competition. Congratulations Tai. This from NZ Winegrowers: Tai Nelson from Soljans Estate in Kumeu, Auckland has taken out the prestigious title of New Zealand Young Viticulturist of the Year 2023 Tai Nelson The National Final was held under beautiful blue skies at Paritua Vineyards in Hawke’s Bay and the winners announ ..read more

Ok, technically refilling could be deemed as reusing but let’s just add a 4th “R” anyway shall we? Known for it’s range of boutique organic gins and liqueurs, Hasting’s Distillers has added a “refill salon” to it’s tasting room at Heretaunga Street in Hastings. Here customers will be able to refill the top three most popular gins from the Hasting’s range and in doing so will qualify for a $10 credit for food or beverages at the venue. This from Hasting’s Distillers: New refill salon opens at Hastings Distillers, plus extended hours for summer Hastings Distillers – highly regarded for its sele ..read more

New Zealand is full of small, little known wineries making incredible wines, but lack the international recognition they richly deserve due to not putting their wines up to be judged internationally. It can be intimidating to put your wine into a huge overseas show for fear it will fall short against the “best of the rest”. Alexandra’s McArthur Ridge dared to show the world what their wee winery at the end of the world could do and were richly rewarded with their Southern Tor 2020 pinot noir scoring 96 points at the Decanter World Wine Awards and two trophies at the International Wine Challeng ..read more

The conversation around terroir and “sense of place” is one that we regularly have in the wine world. How the land, the climate and the biodiversity influence the taste of the wine. I’m increasingly seeing this conversation happen in the world of premium spirits and it’s a fascinating part of the journey and a good way to let people know what is just so special about your spirit that sets it apart - and why it commands a premium pricepoint. I have rarely seen this so flawlessly executed than by Southland’s Auld with the release of their three new gin expressions. Immaculately presented with em ..read more

Australian’s wine stalwarts Brown Brothers have taken their popular 1889 range and rebranded it to become Brown Brother’s Origins Series with a striking and eye-catching new look. While what’s in the bottle will remain the same, the new branding seeks to celebrate the origins of the varietals in the range. Here in New Zealand the range will include Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Prosecco and will retail at $18.99 This from Brown Brothers: Brown Brothers, one of Australia’s best-loved family wine businesses, which has been making wine for over 130 years, is pleased to share that its 188 ..read more

The demand for gin doesn’t seem to show any sign of slowing down and when you combine that with the increasing demand for organics - an organic gin sounds like a remarkably good idea. Even better if that gin is organic, biodynamic and made with foraged local botanicals. Hastings Distillers is a boutique distillery based in Hawke’s Bay focussing on quality, not quantity with their stunning limited release spirits. This from Hastings Distillers: Quintessence of spring captured in Blossom Parade gin  Credit: Brian Culy A hint of warmth on newly bared arms, asparagus spears pushing up throu ..read more

The future seems sunny for New Zealand wine as the value of wine exports hitting an all time high of more than a quarter billion dollars. This from New Zealand Winegrowers: New Zealand wine export value hits all-time high The value of New Zealand wine in international markets is stronger than ever, with exports for 12 months to September at an all-time high of $2.03 billion, up 6% from the previous year. USA ($727 million) and Canada ($157 million) are at new record levels. The total value increase of 6% is due to a rise in value per litre, with volume for the 12 months to September decreasi ..read more

The inaugural National Wine Awards of Aotearoa released it’s trophy winners at a celebration on Auckland’s Waterfront and it seems like it was a win for chardonnay with Isabel Estate’s Chardonnay taking the wine of the show in addition to their trophy in the chardonnay class. To be the best wine out of 800 is no mean feat, so huge congratulations to the team at Marlborough’s Isabel Estate. This from the National Wine Awards: It’s a Chardonnay day at the inaugural National Wine Awards waterfront celebration Chardonnay wins top honours at the inaugural National Wine Awards of Aotearoa New Zeala ..read more

For the first time Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW) has released its “annual collection”. Twelve Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs from its membership which have been chosen by a panel of three wine experts as the very best Marlborough has to offer. This from Appellation Marlborough: APPELLATION MARLBOROUGH WINE’S ANNUAL COLLECTION REVEALED The Appellation Marlborough Wine Annual Collection was launched earlier this month to highlight the calibre of Sauvignon Blanc being produced across the Marlborough region. Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW) Chair Ivan Sutherland says “The quality and distinc ..read more

It seems to me that the innovative team at Scrapegrace, never cease doing things that are worth talking about. Case in point they are poised to release a set of limited edition NZ single malts. Let’s be clear, undertaking a project to make great whisky, isn’t something you do in a day, a week or even a year, it’s a decades long process and Scapegrace took the first steps six years ago when they started reserving or “putting down” whiskys in anticipation of this grand reveal. Beyond excited for these new releases. This from the team at Scapegrace: New Zealand’s largest independent spirits brand ..read more