Amoise Gris 2020
100% certified organic fruit, macerated and spending almost a month on skins. This is from the Mangatahi Terraces, of higher elevation and a bit cooler and more marginal than the other Hawke’s Bay appellations. The wine is light and fragrant this year, a blood orange colour with the usual hints of pear and ginger spice.
ORGANIC / BIODYNAMIC / NATURAL / NO SO2 ADDED
Black Estate French Farm Pinot Gris 2020
“Lovingly grown on a hillside vineyard in French Farm, overlooking Akaroa Harbour, Banks Peninsula. The vines here are grown on basalt soils formed from an extinct vocano. The fruit in this bottle has ample texture, vibrant acidity and balance. Whole bunch pressed and fermented in small stainless steel tanks and 500l barrels. Unfiltered and unfined.”
ORGANIC / BIODYNAMIC / NATURAL
Dario Princic Bianco NV
The “Bianco” by Dario Princic is the result of the skillful union of chardonnay, sauvignon and pinot grigio. The grapes undergo a few days of maceration and fermentation in open vats. Subsequently, each variety is left to mature in wooden containers of various sizes and then assembled to achieve ideal harmony. In the Collio district, there is this very ancient soil called Ponka a Calcareous, marl infiltrate with clay very porous, so the roots can seek lots of nutrients in the below substrate. Thus the minerality is dusty, stony and gives sapidity to the wine.
ORGANIC / BIODYNAMIC / NATURAL
Drummond Farm The Burren 2020
2020 ‘The Burren’ Pinot Noir & Pinot Gris . A bold blend, rich in colour and complex in flavour. If you like a bigger style of red wine, treat yourself to a few bottles of this number. You work hard, you deserve it.
Lime Rock Pinot Gris 2021
An elegant Pinot Gris with attractive aromas of honeysuckle, pear and spice, with long fruit flavours of nectarine and other stone fruit. This luscious Pinot Gris has texture from fermenting a portion in older oak barriques and has excellent length.
Michel Leon Pinot Gris 2019
This wine has a beautiful brilliant golden colour. The nose is fine, elegant and aromatic with a freshness which opens up with undergrowth and ripe fruit notes like apricot, peach, plum and cherry. This wine is full-bodied, aromatic and has an great volume. Acidity enables a good balance so that undergrowth and ripe fruit notes can be released.
Mont’Albano Pinot Grigio 20
This well-balanced wine from the Friuli region to the north of Venice has plenty of character, with a delicate rose petal aroma and a tinge of pears and apricots on the palate.
ORGANIC
Mountford Estate Hommage A l’Alsace 2015
Rich with complex stonefruit, fruit salad, manuka honey and minerals that attack your senses upon first glace. Bringing together four noble varieties of Alsace; Gewürztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Riesling. This enriching medium bodied integration will both excite and invigorate with a beautiful balance of acidity and sweetness.
Petane Station Pinot Gris 2018
Selectively hand-picked, phenologically ripe berries are gently whole bunch pressed and, post ferment, the wine is left on its yeast lees for 8 months to evolve. A further four months of bottle maturation, prior to release, allows the wine to rest and achieve its full potential. The result is a Gris that’s deliciously rich and flavoursome with an off-dry finish. As Philip puts it, “This is a serious Pinot Gris that tips a hat toward Alsace with cellaring potential of 7+ years.”
Vandal Gonzo Militia Blend 2021
Vandal Wines was set up by three unnamed, masked Marlborough winemakers as an escape from the restrictions of their day jobs. The Gonzo Militia is a field blend, picked together on the same day and vinified together. The blend is unusual to say the least 20% Viognier, 20% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Gris, 15% Riesling, 15% Syrah, 5% Chardonnay, 2.5% Tempranillo and 2.5% Muscat, sourced from a single site in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys region. After pressing 50% is macerated on its skins for 24 hours, the whole is fermented in neutral French oak barrels using the natural yeasts and undergoes malolactic fermentation. The wine then spends 6 months on its lees with battonage, lees stirring, before bottling un-fined and un-filtered. The wine has delicate pink hue to its golden colour with a slight haze due to the lack of fining and filtration. The flavour is wild with a creamy mouth full of peach, plums with lemony, green apple acidity and nutty notes from the casks. A complex and fascinating break from the norm.