Te Awa Single Estate Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2016
The bouquet of this citrine-hued wine is reminiscent of lightly toasted hazelnuts and stonefruit with just a hint of pineapple, and it’s smooth, creamy and nutty in the palate with lifted lemony leesy flavours that sign off with malty savoury oak that’s underlined with a lingering and very pleasing bright pineapple /peach / mandarin flourish. 13% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Dog Point Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2017
This is a rich straw gold colour with a wild yeast / fumé nuance to the grapefruit and tropical fruit scent and the taste is full-bodied and textural with a flinty shimmer rippling through the concentrated passionfruit, mango, apple, herb and lime flavours with grapefruit again on the deliciously long quenching finish. Not an over-exaggerated style by any means. 12.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $23.99.
 
Penfolds Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2014 – NSW, Australia
Light gold in hue with an enticing bouquet of light nutty toasty notes, the most delicate suggestion of butterscotch and hints of peach but unexpectedly restrained in the more lemongrass palate that does not hint at all of its four years of age. It's a very smart, elegant, cooler climate, higher altitude, Burgundian-inspired style with underlying gunflint notes, lingering tropical fruit and nectarine and exceptional length. Will be very long lived. 12.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $39.99.
 
Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Marlborough Chardonnay 2016
It's a light golden hue with an enticing malt, stonefruit and gunsmoke scent and terrific concentration to the profoundly flavoursome palate with deliciously juicy peach, melon and tropical fruit and toasted hazelnut lingering on the polished finish.  Of all the chardonnays tonight this is the most sociable, the most readily drinkable and the most hard to resist. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Tenuta Ulisse Terre di Chieti Pecorino 2016  - Italy
Pear and citrus fill the bouquet of this straw coloured, off dry wine that’s characterised by bright acidity and a juicy medley of citrus with a touch of honeysuckle / beeswax on the fresh, clean finish. It’s a fruity wine with substance and texture and served chilled it’s juicy and refreshing. 13% alc. Cork.. First Glass Price: $22.99.
 
Giesen Gemstone Limited Release Marlborough Riesling 2017
This has the most intriguing scent of pear and quince with a slightly earthy / funky  / apple skin note. It’s a little spritzy in the palate with apple sherbet and pineapple dominant tropical fruit with a touch of sweetness balancing the refreshing acidity and an apricot hint to the lingering finish. What’s unusual about this wine is fermentation and maturation in granite rock tanks. 10% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $16.99.
 
Giesen The Brothers Marlborough Pinot Noir 2015
Rich ruby garnet hue. Generous cherry and summer berry fruits fill the bouquet yet it’s surprisingly quite fresh in the palate with upfront acidity indicating it needs to be accompanied with food right now. It’s a savoury, earthy, mushroomy pinot with a little bit of grip to the tannins and fruit sweetness evolving on the finish with a touch of toasty spice.  13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Archangel Central Otago Pinot Noir 2013
This has a saturated dark ruby / crimson tinged hue. There's a hint of mocha infusing the opulent bottled black cherry bouquet together with a touch of tar and char and it’s earthy and savoury to the taste with firm tannins, sappy oak and spicy notes and the sought after 'peacock tail flare’ on the finish where creamy chocolate and black forest cherry emerge. An oaky sumptuous mouthfilling pinot that leaves a great deal of satisfaction. AirNZ Pure Gold Medal.   14% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $33.99.
 
Terra Sancta Shingle Beach Central Otago Pinot Noir 2013
The edges are thinning on the fading ruby garnet hue. Sweet strawberry and red cherry fruit fill the bouquet with a savoury gamey undertone. It's a medium-bodied wine and quite dry on first tasting  with savoury, gamey, smoky, spicy oak and sappy herb notes, a little bit of grip to the chalky tannins and ripe red berry fruit together with violets pushing through on the satisfying, rounded, lingering finish. A versatile food matching wine. 12.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $40.99.
 
Tenuta Ulisse Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2015 – Abruzzo, Italy
It's a bright inky crimson black hue. The concentrated bouquet has a profound depth of jammy blackberry and black cherry fruit and it’s lifted in the full-bodied palate with smoky cigar box notes, touches of vanilla and ripe bramble fruit. Rounded in its flow with the firm tannins tamed by the sumptuous fruit and there are hints of chocolate biscuits on the succulent and generous finish that’s balanced by harmonious savoury notes. Gold NZIWS 2017. 14% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $22.99.
 
Chalk Hill Luna McLaren Vale Shiraz 2016 – South Australia
Bright glossy, blackberry red in the glass. Ripe dark berry fruits with a touch of eucalypt and smoky oak fill the bouquet and it’s full-bodied, sumptuous and mouthfilling to the taste with vanilla, plums, mulberries, touches of chocolate and cake spices and velvet cape tannins adding an aura of mystery and intrigue. A big wine with a powerful underlying oak presence at this youthful stage of its life. 14% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $18.99.
 
Buller Wines Fine Old Muscat NV – Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia
Clear golden amber in the glass. The mesmerising heady bouquet is redolent of muscatel raisins, rancio and spirit and the taste is like liquid toffee nectar infused with muscatel raisins, candied peel, honey and fruit cake. It’s sweet but nicely balanced to the rancio savoury tones that come from years of maturation in old oak barrels. It’s A decadent treat. 18% alc. Cork. 750ml. First Glass Price: $41.99.