Wine Blog

Private Cellar Offer

One of our friends and colleagues has been forced to 'liquidate' their beloved wine cellar, a virtual treasure trove of premium older New Zealand wines.   The collection includes old vintages of N...

Spanish Quaffing Wines

Spain boasts by far the largest land area of vines in the world - at a stunning 1,000,000 hectares of vines, making our paltry 35,000 look like we aren't even trying!  Land area doesn't necessarily...

A Vertical Tasting of Dry River

On Saturday evening we had the great pleasure to host Winemaker Wilco Lam from Dry River. As exciting as it is to taste wines from Martinborough's most prestigious winery, it is even better when ol...

Climate Change & Wine

If you don't believe that climate change exists, you might want to stop reading about now. According to NASA, the earth's climate has changed dramatically through history, in the last 650,000 years...

A Touch of Olde England

With Jarrett returning from his travels across Europe, an unexpected surprise from his luggage sprang a bottle of English wine - my first taste ever from Britania. As far as climates go, one wouldn...

Congratulations Raymond Chan

Those in the 'wine industry' in Wellington, or indeed New Zealand will know the name Raymond Chan. One of the tireless independent wine reviewers, wine critic, judge and flag bearer for the fine wi...

Terroir of Burgundy Tasting

Sometimes we just need an excuse to open up some really top shelf wines, the kind of wines that are treasured around the world and with unfortunate price tags to match. Our most recent tasting even...

Vintage 2017 - a Tale of Two Seasons

As the 2017 growing season draws to a close in Europe we can start to draw a line under 2017. How is it going to stack up compared to other recent vintages? "Vintage" in the wine world is a term us...

Provence - a Sea of Rosé

Leaving Bordeaux takes us South towards the Mediterranean, to break up the drive we stop for a night on the outskirts of Toulouse in the South-West before continuing through to the Provençal charms...

Vinexpo 2017 - a world of wine

Vinexpo is a spectacular global wine show, started in France in 1981, now expanded across the globe including in Tokyo and New York. Last year I went to the Hong Kong version, but Bordeaux is home ...

Bordeaux to the Extremes

Our journey in Bordeaux continues with more visits to wine growers across the region, and it is gratifying to meet the people and touch the soils that produce many of the wines that we import into ...

Beginning Bordeaux

As we prepare to bid farewell to the Loire, we will turn from the idyllic country villages towards the major commercial centre of Bordeaux. We leave a piece of our hearts behind,  I feel that every...

Into the Loire

After frantic planning and long (though thankfully uneventful) flights Katie and Michael have arrived back in La France. This trip will last about 3 weeks, and this time we are spending our time in...

A Tour of Chablis

Perhaps the essence of Chardonnay as a grape lies in Chablis - Unadulterated by oak or the fatness malolactic fermentation, its the wine to serve someone who says they "don't like Chardonnay."  Hon...

Beef Meets Gewurz

When it comes to wine-food pairing, there are tried & true tests that instinctively work together. Sav Blanc & seafood, Bordeaux & roast lamb, Pinot Noir & venison. Sometimes though...

Our Xmas Opening Hours

This year we're open extended hours in the leadup to Christmas -  Mon 5 - Wed 7 Dec Thu 8 - Fri 9 Dec Sat 10 - Sun 11 Dec  10am - 7pm 10am - 8pm 10am - 6pm Mon 12 - Wed 14 Dec Thu 15 - Fr...

40 Year Old Birthday Wine

This last week heralded the auspicious anniversary of my creation, and what better way to add to the festivities than a wine from my birth year!  This bottle of Vouvray has been the oldest wine in ...

Wine/Food Pairing Test: Dry Riesling from Alsace

What makes a good wine/food match? Often when trying to match wines with food, I search the internet for what goes with a particular wine or wine type.  Each site offers specfic foods or recipes to...

Wine Region of the Week: Hungary

Hungary Day 1 The classic European wine countries dominate the global wine world- France, Italy, Spain, followed by Germany, Austria and Portugal.  Relatively unknown and underappreciated are t...

Wine-Food Pairing

It is said that wine-food matching is a hard thing to get right - a subtle mix of chemistry and magic.  When it works just right it is truely sublime, making both the dish and the wine shine greate...