Red Wine:
Merlot/Merlot Dominant
Pinot Noir
White Wine:
Chardonnay
Sauvignon Blanc
Aromatics
Sparkling & Champagne
Dessert Wine
Whisky
Port
Alcohol Free
Merlot/Merlot Dominant
Church Road Reserve Merlot Cabernet:
Church Road Reserve Merlot Cabernet marries ripe, concentrated fruit with spicy oak complexities to create a complex, Bordeaux-style wine with a serious palate structure.
On the nose, dark berry fruit, black cherry and floral characters are complemented by integrated toast and spice from French oak and complexities of earth, cedar and a hint of minerality. The palate has excellent flesh and concentration, balanced by a backbone of ripe, fine-grained tannins. A long and persistent finish completes the wine.
The stony soil in which these merlot vines are grown reduces their vigour, resulting in very intensely flavoured berries. Like the pinot noir, merlot is fermented in small, traditional open-top vats. Fruit driven, with intense plum and berry flavours, soft tannins and spicy oak.
A lively mixture of blackcurrants, chocolate and spice. The palate has loads of sweet fruit and refined tannins.
This wine is a classical claret blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec and cabernet franc. Merlot provides a purple plum fruit character, a plump fleshy structure and a backbone of ripe tannins. Malbec supports this and adds an aromatic rose-petal-like element. Cassis and blackcurrant impressions come from the cabernet sauvignon, while cabernet franc gives an ethereal fruitiness.
Underlying and integrating these are savoury nuances suggestive of black olives, coffee beans, cigar smoke and dark chocolate. While it is a big, muscular, mouth-filling wine it has a refined palate structure with velvety tannins and a lingering flavoursome finish.
Villa Maria Reserve Hawkes Bay Merlot:
Showcasing the very best of a region, reserve wines focus on displaying optimal purity of fruit. Only the most premium grapes from a selection of prominent vineyards are used to ensure a wine of utmost quality.
Deeply coloured with perfumed ripe dark fruits, violets and plum aromas. Richly concentrated and brooding in style with dark plum and cherry flavours, finishing with hints of biscuity fine grain oaked tannins. A wine that will age gracefully over the next 10 years.
Esk Valley Winemakers Merlot/Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon:
This is consistently one of New Zealand’s top red wines and this vintage is no exception. The wine is deeply coloured with aromatics hinting at black fruits and chocolate. The flavours are typical of Gimblett Gravel merlot blends, with fruitcake, plum, cherry, chocolate and oak spice all evident.
Cellaring is recommended to soften the firm tannins, but the wine can equally be enjoyed in its youth.
Pinot Noir
Vidal Wines, founded in 1905, is one of Hawkes Bays oldest boutique wineries, and is a producer of premium quality wines that truly reflect the region and vineyards from which they were sourced.
The Marlbourgh Pinot Noir has aromas of red berry and brooding dark plum combined with complex flavours of cherries and earthy spice. Well balanced with natural acidity, this finely textured wine expresses classic intensity on the palate.
Traditional winemaking techniques were used to produce this pinot noir enabling gentle tannin extraction and creating a foundation of flavours and textures that underwent further integration as they matured in a mixture of French oak barrels for 10 months.
This has resulted in a wine that has great depth of colour. The nose has an intense perfume of mocha, candy, dark fruits along with charry oak. The palate is rich and dense with plums, spice and silky tannin. The finish is enticing and long.
The wine has a vibrant carmine hue. Its aromas and flavours are a complex interplay of fruity and savoury elements, suggesting cherries, raspberries and blackberries, intermingled with roast game, grilled mushrooms, black olives, liquorice and coffee.
There is a dense core of fruit in the mouth that is supported by a backbone of firm, ripe tannins which flow evenly through the palate and should help the wine age gracefully. While ready to drink on release it will develop additional fascinating nuances and become increasingly mellow with careful cellaring.
Sparkling & Champagne
Morton Brut Méthode Traditionnelle
An elegant, yet affordable New Zealand bubbly, Morton Brut is a deliciously refreshing, delicate sparkling wine with a steady bead and well rounded flavours. The palate is fresh and lively exhibiting classic fruit flavours, complexed by yeast aromas.
Deutz marries the best of New Zealand grapes with traditional French Champagne-making techniques (from the House of Deutz), resulting in an award winning new world cuvee.
This wine shows great power and body with an excellent balance between the fresh pinot noir fruit and a toasty, yeasty flavour. The wine has a steady, fine mousse and a long lingering aftertaste.
Non Vintage Champagne
Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label:
The predominance of pinot noir provides the structure that is so typically Clicquot, while a touch of pinot meunier rounds out the blend. Chardonnay adds the elegance and finesse essential in a perfectly balanced wine.Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label manages to reconcile two opposing factors – forcefulness and finesse – and to hold them in perfect balance. This consistent power to please makes it ideal as an aperitif, and perfect as the champagne to enjoy with a meal.
Moët et Chandon Brut Imperial:
Moet et Chandon has for many years been the world's best selling non-vintage champagne and is consistently soft, fresh and very well balanced. The classic blend produces notes of green apples and citrus fruits. Fine, intense flavors of dough, honey and citrus are backed by a vibrant structure in this firm, persistent bubbly.
Unlike many Champagne Houses, Bollinger only produces two different blends: that designed for the Special Cuvée, and that which will become Grande Année. The blend for the Special Cuvée is an ideal version of the classic champagne blend, using the different grapes of a given year from a variety of crus, with the addition of older, reserve wines.
This blend necessarily incorporates subtle variations each year whilst remaining consistent to a style. It is, therefore, the hardest of all to make. It contains the full expression of the Bollinger style and the House feels it should be judged on this - its benchmark wine.
Vintage Champagne
Perrier Jouët Belle Epoque Vintage Champagne:
Perrier Jouët launched its famous "flower bottle" in 1969, with an arabesque design of anemones. Since then, it has been one of the world's most celebrated champagnes - light bodied and distinctive. Aromas of fresh pineapple and white florals warm into complex scents of pear. The bead is intense and effervescent.
A truly special bottle of vintage champagne, ideal for very special occasions.
Chardonnay
Stoneleigh Marlborough Chardonnay:
This full-bodied, flavoursome chardonnay has been crafted from well-ripened, intensely flavoured grapes. The wine is light golden straw in colour. The nose has vibrant fruit intensity of nectarine, peach and melon aromas, with a layering of oak complexity. The palate shows textural weight, with white stone-fruit flavours, balanced with a soft creaminess.
Villa Maria Single Vineyard Waldron Chardonnay:
Single Vineyard wines are created from vineyards of exceptional quality when vintage conditions allow these sites to fully express their individual characteristics.
On the nose this wine is bold and complex displaying perfumes of lemon, citrus blossom and stonefruit, complemented by creamy oak characters. A concentrated palate, the wine has layers of citrus fruits and captivating mealy characters. This is a strong, full bodied and textured chardonnay.
Wither Hills Reserve Marlborough Chardonnay:
This Marlborough reserve style chardonnay balances intense spicy fruit aromas with a fresh integrated bouquet. The palate is elegant, with the richness of fruit enhanced by sweet melon flavours. Further harmonisation is achieved through a combination of traditional barrel fermentation, lees stirring and extended oak maturation to produce a rich and complex wine.
This chardonnay will drink well on release and with cellaring, will generously reward the patience of serious wine lovers.
Sauvignon Blanc
Saint Clair Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2007:
A full and crisp, powerful wine with intense flavours of passion fruit, blackcurrant, underlying gooseberry and herbal tones. Mouth-watering acidity is balanced by a full yet elegant palate that leads to a long lingering finish.
Perfect for drinking immediately this wine will be at its best over the next one to two years.
Astrolabe Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc:
This outstanding sauvignon blanc offers powerful gooseberry, greengage, capsicum, passionfruit and lime peel aromas. A medium to full-bodied wine with strong gooseberry, passionfruit and currant flavours, a hint of freshly-cut red capsicum, and a refreshingly smooth lingering finish.
Best enjoyed when young and fresh, but has the potential to age gracefully.
Scented and summery, the 2008 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc has deliciously vibrant aromatics that infuse the tropical fragrance of fresh passionfruit and juicy pineapples with garden-fresh basil and the spiciness of crushed tomato leaves.
The palate is long and succulent, combining exotic fruits with ripe, red capsicum and a twist of green olive... beautifully complemented by crisp natural acidity and a hint of lime zest.
Aromatics
After gentle pressing, the wine is fermented slowly to retain the intense rose-petal aromas of the grapes,then aged on lees for several months prior to blending and bottling.
This wine is fruit-driven in style, typically with intense aromas of rose-petal, Turkish delight and lychee. On the palate the pure fruit flavours and natural sweetness complement the well balanced, elegant structure.
Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Gris:
An emphasis on fruit quality and minimal handling ensure the Villa Maria Cellar Selection wines are intensely flavoured, elegant food friendly wines.
The Pinot Gris displays wonderful perfumed aromas of pineapple and ripe pear with hints of gentle spices. It has a luscious palate showing generous baked apple and cinnamon characters, followed by a lively, rich and harmonious finish.
The palate is rich, with an oily texture and layered with pear and stonefruit flavours. An underlying savoury complexity leads to a lingering, spicy, off-dry finish.
Matua Valley Shingle Peak Riesling:
Shingle Peak takes its name from the distinctive mountain ranges that border the stony alluvial soils of the Wairau Valley. The hot days and cool nights, create favourable conditions for producing wines with distinctive flavours.
The Shingle Peak Riesling offers fresh simple citris flavours with apricot and stone fruit notes. The colour is green with straw hues, the nose full of honeycomb and lime peel zest aromas. The palate shows an underlying minerality, with good balance over the palate which lingers at the finish.
Framingham Classic Riesling is an off dry style of riesling, with rich fruit and juicy acidity. This, together with relatively low alcohol, makes it a versatile wine, ideal as an aperitif or with food.
The wine has perfumed, floral aromatics of honeysuckle and citrus, while the palate offers flavours of lemon, lime and orange citrus, stonefruit and mineral. The residual sugar in the wine is balanced with a backbone of firm, natural acidity giving a long, dry finish.
Whisky
The Glenlivet 12 year old Single Malt:
This classic Speyside conveys beautiful images of a fertile orchard, blossoming at springtime and laden with juicy ripe fruit at summertime.
Colour: Bright and lively gold
Nose: Fresh juicy Chasselas grape, ripe pear, soft apples and a sensuous touch of exotic fruit. It opens in time on creamier and richer notes: stewed greengages, ripe apricots, vanilla creme anglaise, a hint of marshmallow. Oak tenderly enhances that enticing bouquet with more vanilla notes and nutty hints.
Palate: Smooth and sweet fruity basket. Honeyed flowers, almond biscuits.
Finish: Nutty, marzipan, fresh hazelnuts, spicy, fresh grated ginger.
Glenmorangie 10 year old Single Malt:
It has been called ‘the perfect ten’ and most Glenmorangie drinkers will readily drink to that! After 10 years in ex-bourbon casks, the Glenmorangie spirit has had enough time to mature and mellow into a beautifully balanced yet marvellously complex malt whisky. Enjoyed by newcomers and connoisseurs alike, it’s Scotland’s favourite malt whisky, hand-crafted with pride by the Sixteen Men of Tain.
Colour: Pale golden brown
Nose: Light and delicate, floral with traces of citrus and vanilla along with a light smokiness
Palate: Beautifully balanced, with honeyed nuts coming through
Finish: Clean and salving, short
The Macallan 12 year old Fine Oak Single Malt:
The Macallan Fine Oak is triple cask matured in a unique combination of exceptional oak casks. European and American oak casks seasoned with sherry impart hints of dried fruits, spice, chocolate orange, lemon, coconut and toffee sweetness. American oak casks seasoned with bourbon deliver floral aromas and sweet notes of vanilla and fresh fruits.
This triple cask combination delivers an extraordinarily smooth, delicate yet complex single malt.
Colour: Rich Straw
Nose: Complex, with a hint of fruit and vanilla
Palate: Medium, balanced with fruit, oak and spice
Finish: Lingering, with dried fruits, oak and spice.
Port
Taylor's 10 year old Tawny Port:
An exceptionally fine old tawny blend, aged for an average of 10 years in oak casks. Elegant and smooth, combining delicate wood notes and rich mellow fruit, it is bottled for immediate drinking.
Excellent with soft cheeses such as brie; and a superb dessert wine, particularly with dishes made with coffee or almonds, Taylor's 10 Year Old Tawny is delicious served lightly chilled at the end of the meal.
Fine Tawny is aged for approximately three years in small barrels to hasten aging to a reddish amber (tawny) colour and to develop a smooth, nutty flavour.From its aging in wood, Cockburn’s Fine Tawny loses some of its color and sweetness and acquires the classic nutty/butterscotch flavor of tawny port. This wine is produced from grapes grown in the lower Douro, which are less pigmented and better suited for tawny port. Cockburn’s Fine Tawny has a smooth full flavour with a toffee nose.
Dessert Wine
Church Road Reserve Hawkes Bay Noble Semillon:
This sweet wine is a true French Sauternes-style Noble Sémillon with a distinctive New Zealand signature. Rich and intensely concentrated, it has been crafted from fully botrytised grapes from the Korokipo vineyard in Hawke's Bay.
The wine presents a luxurious aroma of apricot, honey, citrus and almond, supported by a subtle crème brûlée richness from fermentation in French oak.
Seifried Nelson Riesling Ice Wine:
Using 100% riesling fruit, this dessert wine is made in the style of an ice wine. The grapes were hand selected at the peak of ripeness, then pressed frozen to release a very concentrated, intensely flavoured juice leaving the icy portion (water) behind to be discarded.
Luscious and intense the wine is packed with ripe summer stone fruit, blossoms and honeysuckle. Elegant acidity persists leaving a long, memorable finish.
Alcohol Free
Lavenders Green Lemon Cordial:
This artisan product is produced in the Wairarapa by Lavender's Green and is made to a traditional New Zealand recipe – a sugar syrup with fresh, organically grown and spray-free lemon juice and rind.
It is most refreshing made up with iced water, mineral water or soda, delicious with hot water (can be used as the basis of a toddy), and for grown-ups, it is delightful diluted with gin or vodka.