Like a tightly-coiled spring ready to slowly unravel, this is a cabernet blend crafted for the long-haul. Closed up tight, it presents an intricately honed structure of fruit and oak tannins colliding to produce a refined, graphite-like texture which builds on the finish. Crunchy blackcurrant fruits hover amidst tangy acidity of long-lingering intensity. $39 at […]

read

A chardonnay of consummate elegance and grace and yet exactingly high tensile structure, encapsulating the mood of the season in its intricately fine, mineral structure, razor-edged acidity and a finish even longer than its name. Immense complexity of struck flint and charcuterie underline subtle purity of lemon and grapefruit on the bouquet. The palate carries […]

read

Painstakingly crafted and electrically energised, this is a chardonnay of remarkable drive and longevity. An electrifying shard of 2011 acidity and lemon juice purity impales the core of the palate, drawing it out tangy, graceful and exceedingly elegant. The bouquet is a celebration of sensational delicacy: lifted white lily blossom, lemon zest, fresh grapefruit pulp […]

read

Announcing another outstanding Cape Mentelle with an immense future before it. Epic poise meets understated generosity, clocking in at a refreshing 13.5% alcohol. The complexity on display this year is mind-boggling: within its signature frame of blackcurrants, high cocoa dark chocolate and cedar come nuances of coal, even black olives, hovering with haunting persistence. High […]

read

The Australian Wine Industry’s most prestigious award, the 2012 McWilliam’s Maurice O’Shea Award, was last night awarded to the Australian Screwcap Initiative.

read

I’ve always felt that Central Otago’s inherent acidity never sits quite as harmoniously in Felton’s Dry Riesling as it does in its sweeter renditions, yet the vintage from the gods has blessed it with an internal balance like it has not seen before. This is a precisely crafted riesling that presents fruit intensity within an […]

read

It’s as if the 2012 season has amplified the mineral expression in Felton Road, infusing this riesling with a deep-set mineral backbone that provides textural definition, direction and drive. Outside the hallowed Grand Crus of Germany and Alsace, it’s a rare thing for a sweet riesling to be so profoundly scaffolded around its mineral structure, […]

read

The natural acidity of this season has risen to propel this forward as one of the great nobles from the riesling masters of Marlborough. A beautiful precision begins in its brilliant, pale straw hue and carries through aromas and flavours of vibrant lemon zest, golden delicious apple and fleshy white peach of intricately primary fruit […]

read

Auburn’s 2012s are coming next month, and with a production of less than 300 dozen in total across the entire range of seven rieslings, you’ll need to get in very, very fast. From a north-facing slope in the warmest part of Central Otago, there’s a generosity to this wine in layers of golden delicious apples, […]

read

The hallmark of Auburn, uniting its rieslings from all parts of Central Otago, is a house style of consistent acid definition, always drawing the finish in clean and balanced, regardless of the level of sweetness of the cuvée in question. Never has this been more marked than in the pristine 2012 season, a vintage that […]

read