We have been blessed in recent years with an abundance of good to great vintages from Champagne. The 2012 vintage was exceptional and there are comparisons to the 1996 and 2002 vintages. For all that the vintage did not start out well with frost hail and disease but August saw a great improvement in conditions that resulted in a fantastic vintage across the board but with particular emphasis on Pinot Noir, it is thought to be a near perfect vintage, so it is with great excitement that we are able to finally do a full tasting from this stellar vintage.

We have just landed the exceptional 2017 Bordeaux vinatge . This is one of the great years in Bordeaux and the wines have been selected by us after tasting them in Bordeaux. This will be a casual walk around tasting where you will have two hours to try 25 wines. The wines will be from all the different appellations in Bordeaux and will range in price from $20 up to $135 a bottle, this is a great opportunity to try before you commit to purchase.

First established in 1996 in the Bannockburn sub region, Akarua today boasts the largest privately-owned estate in Central Otago. The majority of the vine-yards are planted in their signature Pinot Noir, 'hard won' from soils of broken schist and sand. The consistency of Akarua’s wines is impressive, their Pinot Noir has garnered no less than 12 trophies and 28 Gold Medals over just the last 6 vintages. Tonight we will be tasting even more than that, 10 vintages in total going back to 2009. We will be tasting Akarua Pinot Noir 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and the unreleased 2019. The evening will be presented by head winemaker Andrew Keeleyside who has seen 11 vintages on the estate. He will be joined by Zoe Ladyman their international sales manager. Don’t miss this incredible vertical tasting!