Chateau Garage Orca Corca Bianco 2023 $35 A brand new style from viticulturist-turned-winemaker Ollie Powrie and his tiny team at Chateau Garage, the Orca Corca is sauvignon blanc but not as you’d know it. Sourced from an organic site located out in Maraekakaho, west of Hastings, the fruit was hand harvested and the juice was wild fermented in a combo of French oak barriques and a small tank where it was aged on it’s lees (sure lie) for about four months before being blended and bottled. Bursting with exotic aromatics of feijoa, lime zest, wildflowers and green herbs, all of which osmose thro ..read more

Villa Maria Taylors Pass Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 $30 Awatere Valley sauvignon blanc has its own signature. Florals, fresh nettles, white peach, green apple and bruised basil assail the nostrils and roar around the gums. It’s fresh yet gentle on the palate, so if you’re not a fan of squinty acidity then you’re in luck with this vintage. Villa Maria  ..read more

Carrick Bannockburn Billet-Doux Pinot Noir 2022 $35-$39 Pronounced “Be-yay-doo” which translates to ‘love-note’ in French, this wine is the result of a collaboration between winemaker Rosie Menzies, creative director Leon Ofsky and artist Elana Marie Szezepanski and comes from fruit carefully hand-picked from Carrick’s certified organic Arthur’s Vineyard. A mixture of Pommard clones from three blocks were fermented together, as intact berries, and left to begin fermenting naturally. After 18 days the must was pressed, transferred to older oak barrels and left to sleep quietly for 10 months bef ..read more

Dame Diesel Central Otago Pinot Noir 2021 $28.50 If the Gorillaz band were going to release a wine label commemorating their GenX wives, this would be it.  She looks like a woman very much in need of a glass of wine. This North Otago-grown pinot is lightly-styled and redolent of rhubarb, wild cherry, red berry herbal tea and hints of baking spices. Dried herb and savoury, earthy characters merge with bracing acidity to create a very youthful, fresh wine with a lot of life in it. For how to buy contact the team at Nockie’s Palette Office Tel: (+64) 3 669 2288 Email: wine@nockies ..read more

Vilaura Hawke’s Bay Methode Traditionelle Extra Brut Blanc de Blanc 2019 $65 Impeccably stylish. It’s crafted from 100% clone 95 chardonnay grapes by sparkling wine specialists Jascha Oldham-Selak and his partner Sanne Witteveen and it’s immensely tasty. Lifted and citrus scented, it’s accentuated with clean apple, lemon shortbread characters, creamy cashew notes and boasts generosity, elegance and vibrancy on the finish. VILAURA comes from joining two words “Villa” & “Aura” meaning the “House of Energy” and Jascha and Sanne are focusing on producing single vintage, single vineyard, spar ..read more

Aces and Arrows Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2021 $27 Stu Marfel is the group winemaker for Pernod-Ricard New Zealand and he’s opted to give his regional winemaking team a bit of freedom to get creative with the fruit they know best. Craig from Hawke’s Bay has opted to use his favourite grapes sourced from the Bridge Pa triangle, which is then blended with a splash of malbec and viognier to really amp up the aromatics. Feisty, floral and pepper-edged, it’s a syrah with a ribbon blueberry running through its veins. Velvety and savoury and warming in every sip. Available in supermarkets ..read more

Aces and Arrows Greg’s Central Otago Pinot Noir 2021 $27 Lifted and plummy, with a solid cherry spine, this wine is designed by winemaker Jamie Marfell in conjunction with his team of regional winemakers to celebrate their individual talents and creativity, hence why this is named after ‘Greg’ in Central Otago. This pinot is wild fermented and matured in fine-grained French oak to create a soft, creamy, spice-laced style that’s edged with rhubarb, wild herbs, soft cocoa notes and shows a decently lengthy finish. Available in Supermarkets ..read more

Bryterlater Still Life North Canterbury Sauvignon Blanc 2022 $39.99 With its scorched capsicum nose, compacted lawn clippings, bruised basil and lime layers on the nose and palate, it’s a complex, high-acid, fun, feral style. Barrel fermented then aged on lees for a further 10 months, the clear wine then has a portion of its lees added back for extra texture. There’s a high degree of quartzy mineralty and salinity happening on the finish of this wine too. For more info visit Bryterlater Available at VinoFino ..read more

Well, this is truly the end of an era. Michael, thank you. For the last 30 years I’ve been poring over your annual Buyer’s Guides. They’ve formed an enormous part of my wine education and appreciation journey and I was crestfallen when they moved from print to online. Now I’m feeling that way again. I remember vividly meeting you for the first time back in 2009 in the Tom MacDonald Cellar at Church Road while you were on tour and I wrote about you releasing your World Atlas of Wine NZ 2nd Ed.  I will absolutely keep reading your Listener Magazine wine reviews and I’m very very much lookin ..read more

Csânyi Teleki Villanyi Cabernet Sauvignon $27 If you’d told me ten years ago that one day I’d be roaring from the rooftops that Hungarian cabernet sauvignon was going to be my superstar sip, I’d have told you to rack off noddy, Yet that was before this wine by Csányi Pincészet landed on my desk. With an Eastern European pedigree dating back centuries, this wine has deeply savoury tones, bay, tobacco, tree bark, pepper, hedgerow herbs, smoke, graphite and spice. Long, elastic tannins accentuate the experience. Hailing from Dél-Pannónia, the winery itself is located on the outskirts of the town ..read more