The Chronicle
Latest dispatches
23 results across all types
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Tironui Above & Beyond Hawke’s Bay Rosé 2026
Tironui Above & Beyond Hawke’s Bay Rosé 2026 $27 Crafted by owner Richard Brown from a blend of 74% Malbec, 19% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon grown high up on terraced vineyards overlooking Napier, this rosé has so much energy it’s like a CrossFit class in a glass. Roaring with spiced watermelon, salted raspberry, pink […]
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Carrick The Magnetic Organic Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2023
Carrick The Magnetic Organic Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2023 $80 Youthful and stacked with classic spice saturation, this Bannockburn-grown beauty is crafted using 100% Abel clone fruit (often referred to in New Zealand as the ‘Gumboot Clone’ – google it) to produce a stylish, classy, statuesque style. Soft earthy notes, a lick of roasted rhubarb, baked […]
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Carrick Organic Bannockburn Pinot Blanc 2025
Carrick Organic Bannockburn Pinot Blanc 2025 $42 Alsace in France is the spiritual home of Pinot Blanc (a mutation of Pinot Noir), yet it’s clearly loving the schistous soils of Central Otago. I did want to write ‘schisty’ – but stupid grammarly wouldn’t let me. Sigh. Anyhoo, Carrick’s Pinot Blanc style leans into the deeply […]
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Carrick Josephine Organic Bannockburn Riesling 2025
Carrick Josephine Organic Bannockburn Riesling 2025 $42 If you’re a fan of citrus-stacked, refreshingly sweet, honey-laced, Mosel-style Riesling, then saddle up and join the gymkhana because Josephine will bring you joy. Hand-picked, whole bunch pressed and fermented wild in stainless steel tanks, it’s a crisp yet generously juicy wine that’ll wake up even the most […]
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Two Rivers Juliet Marlborough Riesling 2025
Two Rivers Juliet Marlborough Riesling 2025 $22 Bursting with green apple, honeysuckle, lime juice, white peach, creamed clover honey and perky pear, the Juliet is a Riesling style that’ll wake up even the most flaccid of tastebuds. A splash of sweetness balances out the acidity, making it a lipsmacking style for any reason or season. […]
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Known Unknown Super Blanc Te Awanga Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Known Unknown Super Blanc Te Awanga Sauvignon Blanc 2024 $tbc Ultra golden in the glass, this Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc is roaring with youthful freshness, cheek-puckering citrus, gooseberry and green apple goodness. Each sip reveals a peacocks tail of peach, elderflower and freshly baled hay, dried herbs, grapefruit pith and a deep vein of minerality.
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Nuala Reserve Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Nuala Reserve Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024 $38 With its exotic aromas of dandelion pollen, marzipan, soft basil, freshly baled hay and gentle lemony layers, this is a beautifully light yet complex sauvignon blanc. Hints of toastiness, a vein of passionfruit and lime zest make for an energetic mouthfeel and impressive length of flavour. Nuala
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Nuala Waiora New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Zero NV
Nuala Waiora New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Zero NV $tbc Gently dealcoholised, this is a green apple-stacked style, with licks of lemongrass, bruised basil, lime and sweet, peachy tones. Nil on alcohol but full on in the flavour stakes – it’s a style that I’m sure will be a summer sensation. Nuala Wines
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Nuala Central Otago Pinot Noir 2023
Nuala Central Otago Pinot Noir 2023 $38 Softly smoky and showing a fine line of classic rhubarb, scorched fruitwood, baked cherry, gentle pepper and dried thyme flow from the nose to the palate in fine form. Clean, dry, refreshing and yet showing depth, generosity and fine-grained tannins to finish. Nuala
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Nuala Reserve Central Otago Pinot Noir 2024
Nuala Reserve Central Otago Pinot Noir 2024 $tbc A smorgasbord of five different Bannockburn-grown Pinot Noir clones has been partially whole-bunch fermented with wild yeasts then blended by winemaker Paul Martung to create a distinctly savoury, exotically spicy and smoke-saturated style that’ll clear the nose and soothe the throat. Roaring with vibrantly classic cherry and […]
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Nuala Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2025
Nuala Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2025 $tbc I know the words ‘green goddess’ are normally used to describe a super-trendy salad dressing, but here and now I’m lending the term to this shiny-new Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough wunderkind Nuala. Crunchy-crisp and cleansing, this cheek-puckering Sauvignon saturates the palate with lemon and lime, and it’s prickled with […]
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Nuala Central Otago Riesling 2025
Nuala Central Otago Riesling 2025 $tbc From a shiny-new label headed by winemaker Paul Martung, this is an apple-centric Riesling in the extreme! Sourced from fruit grown in Bannockburn and Gibbston, think Granny Smith, Pacific Queen and Fuji fabulousness, combining with Rose’s Lime Cordial and luscious lemon zest on the nose and palate. Citrus-stacked and […]
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Astrolabe Beacon Hill Southern Valleys Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Astrolabe Beacon Hill Southern Valleys Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024 $40 There is nothing about crafting great Sauvignon Blanc that winemaker Simon Waghorn doesn’t know. He’s basically the Obi-Wan Kenobi of New Zealand Sauvignon. The Gandalf of the good stuff. In his new Beacon Hill vintage, prepare for a fragrant tsunami of freshly-shelled sugar snap peas, […]
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Zephyr Marlborough Blanc de Blancs Methode Traditionnelle 2019
Zephyr Marlborough Blanc de Blancs Methode Traditionnelle 2019 $75 Created from just 600 Chardonnay vines grown in their Alice Mills vineyard in Rapaura, this deliciously dry, mineral-laced sparkling wine captures the delicate citrus florals and soft, nutty lacings that great blanc de blanc demands. Almost 6 years on lees has injected depth, freshness and precision […]
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Trinity Hill Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2024
Trinity Hill Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2024 $24.99 2024 is proving to be an absolute banger of a vintage for Hawke’s Bay reds, and I think this example is one of the best-value merlots on the market right now. Grown in their Gimblett Stones vineyard, this wine is a smoky sensation that’s rich, dense and yet […]
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Known Unknown Vin Jeanne Bridge Pa Sauvignon Blanc 2019 375ml
Known Unknown Vin Jeanne Bridge Pa Sauvignon Blanc 2019 375ml $35 It pretty much is what it says on the tin. Or should I say ‘label’ but in unique fashion. Inspired by the wines of Jura, winemaker Jules van Costello has crafted a single barrel of organic Bridge Pa Sauvignon Blanc that’s been barrel-fermented and […]
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Known Unknown Bloody Vermouth (500ml)
Known Unknown Bloody Vermouth (500ml) $45 This Negroni-friendly sweet vermouth is crafted using a Blood Orange oleo saccharum syrup made with equal parts sugar and Blood Orange Peel (“to bring out the peel aromatics”), alongside dried orange zest, cardamom, saffron, dried kawakawa berries, and bittering aromatics like wormwood, rhubarb root, and cinchona bark. It’s then added […]
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Valli Waitaki Valley North Otago Pinot Gris 2025
Valli Waitaki Valley North Otago Pinot Gris 2025 $30 Ultra-crisp and bursting with freshly sliced apple, white peach, white pepper and nashi niceness. Cleansing, floral and buoyantly bright and boasting a marathon-like finish. Another magical Grant Taylor-made wine. More please! Valli
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Known Unknown Maraekakaho Cabernet Franc 2022
Known Unknown Maraekakaho Cabernet Franc 2022 $35 If you like your Cabernet Franc sailing down the leafy, herbal, fabulously feral side of the sea, then this is your jam. From an unusually cool year, unfiltered, unfined and layered with earthy, funky tones, this wine is developing a sweet-sour complexity which cloaks a core of acidity […]
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Te Mata Estate Hawke’s Bay Coleraine 2024
Te Mata Estate Hawke’s Bay Coleraine 2024 $175 If there’s one way of describing the 40th vintage of Coleraine, a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc, it’d be that it’s scented with gunflint and smoked blueberry, delicate graphite dust, black olive and freshly bitten liquorice. On the palate, it offers […]
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Latour-Martillac Lacroix-Martillac AOC Pessac-Léognan 2018
Latour-Matillac Lacroix-Martillac AOC Pessac-Léognan 2018 $56 Who says you need to pay hundreds of dollars for good Bordeaux? Not me! Definitely not after tasting this cocoa-dusted, tobacco-crammed blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 60% Merlot. Grown in a vineyard located on the plateau above the village of Martillac, it’s stacked with dark fruit, layers of liquorice, […]
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Mills Reef Reserve Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2023
Mills Reef Reserve Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2023 $20 Deliciously rich and softly smoky, this is an ultra-ripe style, typical of Hawke’s Bay’s warmer, Northern climate. Bursting with peach, lemon zest, bruised basil and lime notes laced with a hint of marzipan typical of a splash of barrel fermentation. Delicious. Mills Reef
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Misty Cove Tamāhine Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Misty Cove Tamāhine Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024 $35 Named after the first ferry connecting New Zealand’s North and South Island, this is a stylishly crafted fumé blanc, where beautifully balanced French oak fermentation cloaks fresh apple, watercress, peach and passionfruit plushness. Soft white pepper, marzipan, pollen and bruised basil add extra layers of complexity to […]