Pinot Noir is a thin skinned grape variety that makes wines of considerable charm. The heart break grape, it’s tricky to grow and craft great wines. Range of colours, none with the depth of the thick skinned varieties, generally light coloured, cherry red. Aromatic, with charm and finesse. Red cherry through to black cherries. Earthy savoury styles, mushroom and forest floor. Tannins are fine and elegant.

They build like layers on the palate. Acidity ranges from fresh to firmer in some. A variety suiting cool climates and those regions with a high diurnal shift. Think Central Otago, Burgundy and Tasmania. Pinot Noir is capable of expressing the most minute detail in the terroir in which it is grown.

Responsible for producing age worthy and great wines as well as fruity early drinking styles.

Syrah, Shiraz, two defined styles of the same variety. As a variety a medium bodied dark red wine with silky tannins and bright acidity. Shiraz when grown in the warmth of South Australia tends towards red berries, chocolate spice and often a hint of mint. It’s like after dinner mints in a glass.

These styles are rich, generous and mouthfilling. Syrah in the Northern Rhone, earthy savoury and a touch rustic. Sometimes co fermented with Viognier, giving a floral lift to the Syrah there. From New Zealand, our Syrah’s tend towards the Northern Rhone, with brighter red fruits, fine silky tannins and our characteristic bright acidity.

Merlot is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon for good reason, its mid palate plush round soft characters add the mid palate weight to the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Not satisfied with a partnering role, a variety that is equally capable of producing fine solo expressions. These range in style remarkably. From juicy fruit plumy early drinking styles to intense, densely structured bold styles that are incredibly age worthy.

Bold, structured and powerful, Cabernet Sauvignon is characterised by it’s tannins. . First and foremost that’s what it is about, tannins are firm and abundant, giving the structure and drive behind these wines.

Cabernet tannins tend to sit around the outside of the mouth and leave a gap in the middle, which is often filled with Merlot’s plush mid palate generosity. Straight Cabernet Sauvignon not all that common, it’s a great blending variety. Fruit wise, pure Cabernet is all about cassis.