(2023) This is a dry Grand Cru Pinot Gris that opens with spice, pepper and florals atop pure orchard fruit. There's the merest hint of sweetness to the initial flavour, then such a pure, harmonious blend of rich, quite exotic nectarine, a bright orangey acidity, and shimmering length. A lovely Pinot Gris.
(2023) Restrained aromatically, with cool mint and soft hints of vanilla, but so much greengage and citrus, orange and lime peel in a complex nose. The palate is very harmonious, has a smoother character, and a hint of lusciousness. Holding up really well, the edges rubbed off by time - but not too much. Bottled November 2015. pH 3.18 and acidity 6.2g/l.
(2022) Soils for this wine are sandy loam over clay, the vines planted in 1994 and the wine wild-fermented and aged in barriques and larger barrels, 20% new. Eight months on the lees with full malolactic. There's a cool and slightly minty character here again, the overall impression cool and restrained. The fruit has a big, sour lemon and grapefruit attack, both fruit and acid. That drives this wine, subduing any idea of tropicality or sweetness, again salty and pithy in the finish in a lean and aesthetic wine.
(2020) Pale pink in colour, this is fine and aromatic, quite a punchy red fruit nose, and yet there is a light earthiness and yeastiness, something a little ozoney too, In the mouth crisp and crunchy, a bracing green apple twang of acidity against cool, tart raspberry and peach or apricot skins, that little hint of phenolics, and a long, very focused finish. Winemaker PJ Charteris was at pains to say he was not going for a 'pink' wine, more a 'light bronze'. I am guessing that's partly to do with the price: a £30+ New Zealand rosé would require a huge leap of faith from the purchaser. Fact is, athough an excellent wine, that price does seem steep compared to the A1, or indeed, A2.
(2020) A desire to make Bordeaux-style wines is one thing that fuelled Hans Herzog's move from Switzerland, and thankfully this is a beautiful blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Very juicy, intense, a nice level of green pepper and herbs from the Franc, meaty, nutty and a plummy too. Balsamic, plummy and very grippy, as always, strong acidity and very grippy tannins and concentration, but ripe and fine.
(2020) Four days of skin contact give this a pink-tinged, salmon/copper hint of colour, a yeastiness and taut, dry red berries and apple. The skin contact gives a lovely texture, and bone dry in the finish. Grapefruit pith and zesty fruit, long, intense, fascinating and fabulous.
(2020) Classic Viognier, apricot and apricot kernel, a smooth almond touch, creamy in the background. Has a touch of flintiness and stony character, lots of cool fruit and fabulous acidity that keeps everything taut. Another superb and individualistic wine.
(2019) A bllend of 49% Shiraz with Bordeaux varieties. A slightly cooler character, with game and pepper dominating over the meaty and dark fruit. Good grip and structure here, a stony gravel tension to the wine that again offsets the ripe, perfumed black fruit very nicely.
(2018) Nosiola is a native grape of Trentino in the far north of Italy, often harvested late to make sweet Vin Santo wine. But here Bottega Vinai (a brand of the super-coop of the area, Cavit) has made a crisp, fresh and dry Nosiola with broad appeal. The variety takes its name from nocciola, the Italian word for hazelnut, the grape said to have a nutty flavour, and indeed, there is a nuttiness here, as well as firm pear and gentle spices, before the palate reveals its bright, focused and juicy fruit, licked with salts and finishing with a dry lime peel lick of precise acidity. A lovely grown-up wine that has broad sipping and food-matching appeal. Watch the video for more information and food matching ideas.
(2018) From a single block of old Gin Gin clone Chardonnay on clay/loam soils that retain moisture and need little irrigation. Again this was whole-bunch pressed into larger French oak barrels and fermented with wild yeast. It spent 10 months ageing in barrel (40% new). Much more obvious Brazil nut oak, but also a little bit of flinty reductive character. Lovely palate, the acid powerful and intense, but a hugely decisive wine without losing fruit or charm. Lovely wine from a winery that does not own vineyards, but sources this fruit from the cooler South of the region. Note stockist and price quoted is for 2015 vintage.
