Jean Josselin Cuvée des Jean Champagne NV
The bouquet is softly scented with vanilla and lemon cream and the initially crisp, steely, effervescent taste becomes rich and nutty with savoury yeast autolysis characters emerging from the depths. It's quite full bodied and the lingering complex mouthfeel evokes subtle suggestions of peach. Cuisine Best Buy. 12% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $49.99.
 
Beaumet Cuvée Brut Champagne NV – Epernay, France
The alluring bouquet has a brioche / apple tart scent and it’s crisp in the yeasty, savoury palate with the depth and complexity Champagne should have. The creamy mouthfeel has a baked apple sweetness, touches of rose hip and a lingering malty richness with a persistent tingle from the fizz. Elegant. Stylish. Cuisine No. 1. 12% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $44.99.
 
Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne NV – Reims, France
Attractive, lightly floral, lightly malty, lightly yeasty aroma and a tingly taste that has a suggestion of salinity. It's yeasty and nutty with a hint of blackcurrant and the lovely full, rich, toasty finish lingers with hints of caramelised apple. Gold NZIWS. 12% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $67.99.
 
Kahurangi Estate Mt Arthur Reserve Nelson Chardonnay 2017 
Light yellow gold with a peach bubblegum aroma that leads into a decadently rich, toasty palate that is satisfyingly creamy and rounded. Full of tropical and stone fruit with a sliver of lime and lingering malt and burnt caramel, it is silky smooth in its flow. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $21.99.
 
Villa Maria Reserve Marlborough Chardonnay 2016
Golden coloured with buttered sizzled peach and caramel corn aromas that follow through to the seamless flowing, mouthfilling palate that’s fattening out beautifully with bottle age but underpinned nicely by refreshing acidity, nutty oak and touches of gunflint. Champion Chardonnay and Champion Wine NZIWS 2017. Gold NZIWS 2018. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $30.99.
 
Wrights Reserve Organic Gisborne Chardonnay 2016 
Light golden in hue with a bouquet suggesting canned peaches and apricot with a touch of passionfruit. In the mouth this is savoury and toasty with a lemon cream richness, a mealy complexity and youthful bubblegum oak, becoming more and more oaky as the flavour evolve – and the lingering aftertaste is juicy and creamy with a touch of spearmint emerging. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $33.99.
 
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Chardonnay 2016
Light gold in colour with subtle nuances of butter and peach infusing the toasty oak scent and bright fresh tropical fruit accented with grilled pineapple filling the palate with layers of buttery oak, malt, caramel and peach. Well balanced acidity offsets the creamy richness and there’s a lovely roundness to the mouthfilling finish. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Esk Valley Winemakers Reserve Gimblett Gravels Hawkes Bay Syrah 2014
A lustrous, deep, rich, plummy red in the glass with blackberry pie aromas infused with hints of tar and leather. Firm tannins are noticeable upfront in the rich, dense palate but soon succumb to the wonderful depth of fruit sweetness. Crammed with cherry, mocha, chocolate and savoury oak with a light smattering of rose pepper and finishing full-bodied and creamy with richness and complexity, this is a stunning example of NZ Syrah. Gold & Trophy NZIWS 2018, Gold NZ Wine of the Year 2018. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $49.99.
 
Barossa Linke Barossa Shiraz 2016 – South Australia
This is a rich deep dark red with a cranberry hue to the edges. Classically spicy on the nose with a creamy chocolate aura and a little more of the same in the plush, velvety palate. It’s big, ripe, juicy and heady with raspberries, mulberries, chocolate-coated raisins, scorched almonds, tingles of pepper, and a deliciously satisfying, long, smooth, creamy finish. 15.7% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Sons of Eden 'Kennedy' Barossa GSM 2016 – South Australia 
Dark crimson red with a little translucency to the edges. The bouquet smells smooth and creamy with scents of chocolate and cherry. A youthful wine hinting of plenty to offer as it unfolds with bitey acidity and tingles of pepper underpinning red and black fruit, and while the tannins are still a little firm the class of this wine shines through as it opens up nicely on the finish where it reveals juicy blackberry and menthol tobacco. A blend of 53% Grenache, 31% Shiraz and 16% Mourvedre from multiple sites in the Barossa Valley. 14.5% alc. Cork/Screwcap. First Glass Price: $28.99.
 
Brown Brothers Patricia Shiraz 2013 – Victoria, Australia
This is a lovely rich dark red in the glass. The bouquet is dark and savoury with a berry fruit brightness and a gentle seductiveness. Concentrated in the full-bodied palate with touches of graphite, cigar box, cake spices, juicy mulberries and cherries, vanillin oak and cherry chocolate. A rewarding wine that five years on from vintage is smooth and velvety with beautifully resolved, svelte-textured tannins and impeccable flow. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $49.99.
 
Riverby Noble Marlborough Riesling 2015
There’s a copper sheen to the deep golden hue. The concentrated bouquet has a heady fragrance of flower nectar, honey, beeswax and orange liqueur macerated white raisins. All this and more in the lightly viscous palate where the hedonistic and finely textured honeyed sweetness is exquisitely balanced by delicious orange marmalade acidity. Multiple golds. Trophy NZIWS 2017. 5 stars Cuisine 2018. 11% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $25.99. 375ml.

 

 
Giesen The Brothers Marlborough Chardonnay 2016
This has a light golden hue in the glass with peach and citrus floating through the nutty oak bouquet and a lovely mealy savouriness with fleshy peach stone to the taste. It's smooth and creamy with increasing richness to the finish. 13% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Peter Lehmann Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz 2012 – Barossa, South Australia 
Almost black in the glass with rich garnet edges. There's a deep-set plum and bottled cherry bouquet and the taste is bright, tingly and effervescent with underlying structure from the tannins, ripe berry fruit and a dry lifted finish with a creamy aftertaste and a lingering suggestion of chocolate. 14% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $56.99.
 
Peter Lehmann Margaret Semillon 2010 – Barossa, South Australia
Straw coloured with a gorgeous bouquet redolent of all the wonderful lemony tones that Barossa Semillon is known for - lemon blossom, lemon grass, lemon honey and lemon lolly with honeysuckle and lanolin notes. All this and more in the remarkably youthful and zesty palate that has a sense of a mellow toasty character as the aftertaste lingers. It’s fine textured and slippery smooth with a deliciously refreshing finish.  11% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $39.99.
 
Peter Lehmann Wigan Riesling 2011 – Eden Valley, South Australia
There's a lovely bright aura to the scent that conjures up lime and lemonade zest with honeysuckle and a 'fusel' note we sometimes call ‘kero’, and the taste is bright and deliciously refreshing with mouth-watering lime-like acidity zinging through with a touch of flower nectar complementing the tingly zest. Just on the cusp of dry with a slight sucking-on-a-riverstone earthiness, a slatey texture, increasing toastiness and phenomenal length. Seven years old yet fresh, vibrant and exciting. 11% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $39.99.
 
Peter Lehmann VSV Ruediger Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 – Barossa, South Australia
This is a saturated deep crimson red. The creamy bouquet emanates violet jam, chocolate and mocha and it's firm to start in the palate that's full of upfront eucalypt notes with vibrant red- and blackcurrant fruit, an underlying charred meatiness and a sense of roasted nuts on the fine cedary oak finish that lingers with a silky mouthfeel and comes full circle back to the scent with hints of chocolate and mocha. There's still noticeable acidity in this five year old wine from an excellent vintage so will continue to develop in the bottle for years.  14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $38.99.
 
Peter Lehmann Mentor Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – Barossa, South Australia
This is a deep dark red in the glass. The creamy bouquet offers up a deep sense of blackcurrant, cassis and shaved cedar with the subtlest suggestion of mint that becomes more obvious in the savoury, spicy palate with initially noticeable brushed velvet tannins. Very attractive, sappy and succulent with pleasing sweetness of fruit and touches of tobacco that become more obvious as the wine lingers. This has the addition of Malbec this year. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $49.99.
 
Peter Lehmann The Barossan Shiraz 2016 – Barossa, South Australia
Saturated purple red with concentration and opacity. Mocha is the first sense that emanates from the bouquet then concentrated plums, black cherries and cedar. Sweet fruit balances out the palate’s earthy, savoury, toasty oak and tingly pepper notes; the tannins are soft and velvety and there's brightness to the creamy finish with hints of chocolate and touches of aniseed and then, like the previous wine, coming full circle back to the mocha.  14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Peter Lehmann The Futures Shiraz 2014 – Barossa, South Australia
Shiny black red with fine opacity and a wonderfully fragrant sweet mint and berry aroma with touches of vanilla and chocolate. Juicy and bright in the fine-tannined palate with an upfront hit of spice and pepper then chocolate, mocha, savoury oak, cigar box and underlying meaty notes with lingering touches of mint and all the while succulent plum and mulberry fruit. A great label and hard to resist. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $27.99.
 
Peter Lehmann VSV Hearnden Shiraz 2013 – Eden Valley, South Australia
This inky black red wine with crimson edges has a lovely deep earthy sense to the bouquet with touches of dried rose, rooibos, mocha, vanilla and aniseed. The fascination continues into the deep-set savoury yet silky textured palate where intense dark plum and blackberry fruit melds into savoury oak with bright touches of pepper-infused spice and lingering hints of violet and chocolate. While lighter bodied than Lehmann’s Barossa reds, it radiates finesse. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $38.99.
 
Peter Lehmann VSV Hongell Shiraz 2015 – Barossa, South Australia
Shiny black red in hue with the bouquet offering up plum and mulberry fruit with touches of eucalypt and hints of cigar box and leather. Lifted, bright and youthful with  upfront firm fine tannins that seem soft and rounded mid palate yet stamp the ground on the finish. A powerful wine with ripe juicy fruit that mingles with sappy, minty, peppery notes and has a lingering hint of coffee bean.  14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $38.99.
 
Peter Lehmann 8 Songs Shiraz 2014 – Barossa, South Australia
Concentrated red black in the glass with a sense of old world on the nose with touches of leather and barnyard and sappy herb notes but such vibrant, rich, sweet ripe fruit in the palate with invigorating underlying acidity and tingles of pepper. The firm upfront, tight-grained tannins become quite silky and svelte on the finish with a chocolate, vanilla, mocha and succulent dark fruit profile to balance the cedar and earthy savouriness. A stellar ‘old vine’ wine with an ultra long finish.  14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $49.99.
 
Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz 2012 – Barossa, South Australia
Intensely purple red with concentration and opacity. Immediately attractive sweet berry fruit, mint, chocolate and cedar fill the bouquet and it’s full-bodied, ripe, velvety and chocolatey in the palate with classic vanillin oak, succulent red and black berry fruit, deep savoury undertones, beautifully balanced spice and pepper and the most subtle suggestions of mocha and mint. Released as a 5-year-old wine it’s beautifully structured and radiates finesse. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $96.99.

 
Leveret Estate Hawkes Bay Reserve Chardonnay 2014
Tasted chilled on the first cold night of the year this four-year-old comes across as bright and fresh with a touch of oyster shell and a hint of smoke to the tropical fruit scent and more tropical fruit in the palate that's lightly creamy with a bright finish. Gold Hawkes Bay. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Mission Estate Barrique Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2016
This is a smooth, medium to full-bodied style with lemony, malo notes to the bouquet and upfront savouriness to the taste with just a touch of zest and ripe stonefruit fleshing out the very dry finish with a nice touch of butterscotch emerging to linger. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Harken Barrique Fermented California Chardonnay 2016 – California, USA
From the creamy vanilla biscuit aroma to the complex leesy full-bodied palate this oozes flavour and character. It's mouthfilling, mouth coating and mouth enveloping with tropical fruit bursts, banana bikes, pineapple and caramel with harmonious buttery oak and a creamy sweetness to the tasty finish. Verging on irresistible. 13.5% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Misha's Vineyard Limelight Central Otago Riesling 2014
The earthy / slatey / limey / honeyed bouquet with lashings of kero is so expressive and totally en pointe for this off dry to medium Riesling with flavours of apple, honey and touches of tarragon and a crisp clean mouthfilling finish. Complex, full, concentrated and tasty with the 33 g/l residual sugar balanced by refreshing acidity. 10.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $26.99.
 
Aronui Single Vineyard Nelson Pinot Noir 2015
Bright ruby with luminous translucency. There's richness to the cherry scent with touches of dried herb and woodsmoke, and complexity to the fruit driven yet savoury flavours with a nuance of smoky bacon coming through. It's soft and velvety and full of flavour. Upper Moutere fruit. Fabulous value. Gold Easter Show. 14% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Main Divide North Canterbury Pinot Noir 2014
Dark ruby heading towards garnet. The bouquet offers up bramble fruit with savoury, slightly herbal nuances and it is full of ripe berry fruit flavours in the firm yet silky palate with classical savoury, smoky, earthy, gamey vibes and appealing fruit sweetness to the lively finish. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $22.99.
 
Russian Jack Martinborough Pinot Noir 2016
Brightly hued with a touch of barnyard on the nose but full of bright fruit that is a little reminiscent of raspberry in the silky palate that features sensual savoury undertones. It's still youthful with a spark of acidity and firmness to the finish. Made by Martinborough Vineyards. Gold New World, Gold Easter Show.  14% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $18.99.
 
Maude Estate Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016
Ruby hued, clear and bright. The deep fruited aroma suggests plum and blueberry with harmonious yet subtle spicy oak, and it’s wonderfully concentrated in the creamy palate with Christmas cake spices, bottled cherries, plums and hints of chocolate on the long, full-bodied and increasingly complex finish. 14% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $32.99.
 
Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Marlborough Pinot Noir 2016
Dark ruby hued with a  lovely savoury expression of pinot both on the nose and in the palate that’s full of dark fruit and lovely savoury gamey notes with beautifully balanced smoky oak . It's smooth and complex with silky tannins and a long firm finish. Very impressive. 13% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Mission Estate Jewelstone 'Antione' Hawkes Bay 2016
Dark red black in hue with considerable density. The bright blackcurrant and plum aroma is infused with smoky oak and it’s full-bodied and concentrated in the palate with dark savoury notes, sappy herbs, oak spice, ripe juicy fruit, firm yet pillowy tannins and a gobsmacking succulent finish with nuances of mint adding brightness. Made from predominantly Merlot with a touch of Cab Sauv and Cab Franc, it’s stylish and memorable.  14% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $49.99.
 
A Good Dirt Barossa Shiraz 2015 – South Australia
Dark red black in hue with savouriness coming through on the nose to balance the dark, concentrated, ripe, almost jammy fruit scents and super ripe in the palate with touches of mint, savoury oak notes and iodine underpinning the succulent plum and blackberry fruit with touches of vanilla, mocha and chocolate. Velvety in its flow with a rounded finish. 14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $18.99.