Wine Reviews

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon shows remarkable compactness and tightness, offering tantalizing hints of its potential. Alluring blackberry, raspberry, and plum intertwine with high-toned herbal notes that crackle with vibrancy. Elegant cedarwood and dark chocolate nuances further enrich the medium- to full-bodied palate, while juicy, vivid fruit character imparts a delightful sweetness reminiscent of freshly picked blackberry and juicy cherry. The impressively sculpted tannins are like long beams, exhibiting a slightly sappy quality, while notes of black truffle, black tea, and tarragon add depth. Power and precision throughout. – Jonathan Cristaldi

Spicy, fresh, wound up, and complex with brooding aromas and flavors of Bing cherry, black raspberry, sappy cedarwood dusted with ground espresso bean, and hints of toffee and charcuterie. Super dense on the palate, where granulated, chewy tannins that are firm and even chocolaty meet notes of dried sage, cardamom, tart cranberry, tangerine peel, earth, truffle, and licorice. With energy to spare, this wine is ready for long-term cellaring. 100% Sangiovese Grosso BBS11. – Jonathan Cristaldi

Vivid Bing cherry, pomegranate, and blood orange mingle with white pepper and black truffle on the nose. The medium-bodied palate shows power and force—robust tannins are super fine-grained, and the density of the fruit weighs on the midpalate, infused with crushed cocoa nibs and dried rose petals; balanced acidity contributes levity and length. With tremendous staying power, this statuesque, radiant wine showstopper is cellar-worthy. 100% Sangiovese Grosso BBS11. – Jonathan Cristaldi

The Lowburn Ferry Pinot Noir from Central Otago is elegant, with lovely crunchy, ripe red berry fruit, clove and toasty oak spices, nice, grippy apple-skin tannins, and crunchy cherry fruit on the back end, with smoky mineral notes on the long finish. 100% Pinot Noir. Abv. 13.0%

This Oakville Cabernet is a stud. It exudes muddled blackberry and plum fruits, with rich toasted oak notes. The tannins are quite powerful and arresting, with decadent layers of dark chocolate, black fruit, and baking spices. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Abv. 15.4%

Named after the ribbonwood (māntau) tree, this site sits on an elevated terrace with gentle north-facing slopes. The soils are loess over deep gravel and limestone deposits. Fruit is hand-harvested and fermented with native yeast and aged up to 18 months in French oak. This Central Otago Pinot is wonderfully focused, with polished red fruit notes, brown spices, bright, fresh herbal notes of thyme infused with rose-petal nuances, plum fruit, and blood orange notes. 100% Pinot Noir. Abv. 13.5%

This wine is part of the Colours Collection, from sustainably farmed vines. Wonderfully compact, with flinty mineral notes and ripe citrus and orchard-fruit character with sea-spray minerality. Medium-bodied on the palate, the wine is bright, clean, focused, with zippy, mouthwatering acidity, and slivered almond notes through the mineral-scented finish. 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Abv. 13.5%.

This is a fantastic, refined, medium-bodied Chardonnay from Tony Bish, bursting with ripe citrus and orchard fruit, white flowers, and elegant brown baking spices. All of those aromas come together on the palate, with saline minerality and crisp acidity. Excellent fruit concentration creates a harmonious mid-palate, and the wine is teeming with energy, with great length and tension. 100% Chardonnay. Abv. 13.5%