‘Non-NZ wines’

A Champagne from the Billecart-Salmon house – a blend of 37% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier, using 70% Reserve wine. A very fine mousse of tiny bubbles …

A tasting last week sees the opportunity to look at some of the latest releases from Penfolds. Tommys Champagne Bar is in the old Seafarers Building – a comfortable space …

Labelled ‘Grand Cru Classé de Graves’, this white wine – 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Sémillon – from Pessac-Léognan is considered one of the world’s greatest white wines. A light …

Qupe’s Bob Lindquist planted some of the first Rhone varietals in California at the Bien Nacido Hillside Estate vineyard in the 1990s and became known as one of founding ‘Rhone …

A Heathcote wine that is the joint venture of famed Rhone Valley winemakers Michel and Corinne Chapoutier and Ron and Elva Laughton of Jasper Hill. An opaque purple-black in the …

A return to a wine I’ve had throughout my career writing about wines – from my time in Europe, and the occasional glass here in New Zealand. The oldest I’ve …

Named after a plague of mice that troubled the vineyards, this McLaren Vale wine is 100% Nero d’Avola – a wine we don’t see much of in New Zealand. A …

Brockenchack are a relatively new label in Barossa – but their vineyards in Eden Valley, South Australia, have some of Australia’s oldest Riesling vines, planted in 1896. It is a …

A Yarra Valley wine – sourced during a recent visit to Timo Mayer’s property at Bloody Hill. The grapes are from Dixon’s Creek, and the winemaking is, of course, 100% …