18 Gold Medal-Scoring Wines from my Notes!
Rather than write down reams of Silvers (those wines that score around 17/20 in my notes), you might like to concentrate only on the best. Here are the finest wines from this important annual wine tasting. Some of these wines are already here, while others are previews. NZ Wine doesn’t provide retailers for the wines, so please search, and you will find.
WHITE
2024 Greystone, Pinot Gris, North Canterbury (seeking distribution in the UK) 13.5%; 3.6 g/L RS; RRP £POA
With a plush palate and superb balance, this is one of the most impressive PGs, and it certainly catches the eye more than many of the skinnier wines.
2025 Zephyr, Gewurztraminer, Marlborough 13.5%; 4.9 g/L RS; RRP £21
Relaxed, luminous, joyous Gewurz, which in itself is a rare beast, but this is a gorgeously restrained, stunningly accurate wine with a soothing palate and a brittle finish.
2025 Felton Road, Dry Riesling, Central Otago 13%; 5 g/L RS; £28
Bright, crystalline, attacking and nervy, this is a superb wine with a racy edge of acidity that keeps your taste buds alert and crackling.
2025 Zephyr, Riesling, Marlborough 10%; 12.3 g/L RS; £23
This was one of the finest wines of the 210 samples, and I can remember its devastating fruit and frame as I type these notes a whole week later. The plush 12.3 g/L residual sugar seems missing in action because the flavour is so cleansing and uplifting, but this is genius sleight of hand. The density of fruit and liveliness of flavour mark this as a mind-blowingly delicious creation!
2025 Felton Road, Bannockburn Riesling, Central Otago 9.5%; 49 g/L RS; £27
Considering the flamboyant level of sugar in this wine, you might expect it to be lusty, top-heavy and slow-moving. But this wine, like the Zephyr, has baffling momentum and otherworldly poise. Magical, captivating and aeons-long, this is another reason to head to NZ for Riesling succour.
2025 Yealands, Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 12.5%; 3 g/L RS; £12
Always a winner, this inexpensive wine never seems to miss a beat. Granted, it is not particularly complex or overly long, but it is inexpensive, pin-sharp, stunningly accurate, and far more convincing than legions of other wines in this category.
2025 SPOKE, Awatere Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough N/A%; N/A g/L RS; £19
This is the smartest of the new-release Sauvignons, and I remember it sitting at the top of the pile last year, too. It’s all about the mid-palate: unrushed, thrillingly detailed, and stunningly refreshing. There is a calm, centred and confident aura about the SPOKE wines that enables one to live on a higher plane of enjoyment. It’s like the team behind these wines actually enjoys making them! Stellar!
2025 Auntsfield, Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 13%; 2.8 g/L RS; £20
This is a silky, dreamy, and hauntingly fresh wine with a halo of bright, stony citrus fruit that maintains direction and impetus on the palate, while so many others fall away or disintegrate. I don’t see this brand as much as I would like, and I feel a resurgence is on its way, as this is an engaging creation.
2025 Craggy Range, Te Muna Sauvignon Blanc, Martinborough 13%; 3 g/L RS; £18
This wine always seems to show a slightly different dimension of tension to the Marlborough creations, and I like the cut of its jib. Lean, leggy and pin-sharp, this is a terrific wine and one that all-comers will adore thanks to its universal appeal.
2024 Smith & Sheth, CRU Wairau Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 13.5%; 4.3 g/L RS; £19
Clean, bright, seamless and open-armed, this is a welcoming wine with lovely balance and tempo and a cool, lime leaf and fresh herb theme. Classy!
2024 Te Mata, Elston Chardonnay, Hawke’s Bay, 14%; 0 g/L RS; £35
Refined and packed with gorgeous fruit amplitude and perfectly balanced oak, this is a super-detailed wine with astonishing equilibrium given its scale of flavour. This is a mightily impressive given it is only a baby!
2024 Felton Road, Block 6 Chardonnay, Central Otago 13.5%; N/A g/L RS; £44
All the Felton Road Chardonnays looked smart, but for me, Block 6 had an extra dimension of mystery and magic that really sets the palate alight. It could do with a year or two to settle down, but if you want to put it up against a youthful Premier Cru white Burgundy or a proper Aussie candidate, it will relish the chance for a scuffle!
RED
2024 Craggy Range, Te Muna Road Vineyard Pinot Noir, Martinborough 14%; 2 g/L RS; £34
This is an uncharacteristically rich wine, with a full, dark palate and a liberal dusting of spice. Half of me loves it, and half wonders if it would be even more profound with some semblance of control. Regardless, there is a lot of fun to be had here, and I imagine it will age well for 5 to 8 years, so we will be able to see if it calms down one day.
2024 Felton Road, Bannockburn Pinot Noir, Central Otago 13.8%; N/A g/L RS; £46
You will see that I rather fancy both Block wines (below), but for sheer unadulterated and surprisingly precocious enjoyment, this is the wine! Hearty, spicy, ebullient and rabble-rousing, this is a small price to pay for a downright delicious slice of Felton Road excellence.
2024 Felton Road, Block 5 Pinot Noir, Central Otago 13.8%; N/A g/L RS; £73
This might be the laziest note I have written in a while, but to get your head around Block 5 and Block 3, it might be helpful to place this wine in a ‘Côte de Beaune’ pigeonhole, and Block 3 in the ‘Côte de Nuits’ slot. I don’t mean these are Kiwi copies; more that Block 5 is plummier and red-fruited, with a slightly silkier frame, and it brings its tannins in mid-way through the experience, reminding me of a firm, expressive Volnay. Do not unscrew a bottle for at least three years, and you ought to be thrilled. Drink the Bannockburn cuvée while you wait.
2024 Felton Road, Block 3 Pinot Noir, Central Otago 13.8%; N/A g/L RS; £73
This time the fruit is darker, more earth-driven and more attacking. I think it has both further to go and more to offer in the long run than Block 5, but as a pair, these Pinots are simply staggering wines. Perhaps you should only open them side-by-side for optimal indulgence.
2022 Nautilus, Southern Valleys Pinot Noir, Marlborough 13.5%; 0.2 g/L RS; £28
With a few years under its belt and a rather competitive price point, there is every reason to track this wine down. In sheer value-for-money terms, let alone the fact that it is sitting in the middle of its drinking window, this is a no-brainer. Bold, layered, complex and with generous use of posh oak, there is grandeur and openness here, and all for less than thirty quid!
2022 Escarpment, Kupe Pinot Noir, Martinborough 14%; N/A g/L RS; £43
If you would like to read a detailed note on this wine, click here. This is one of the most profound New Zealand Pinot Noirs I have tasted, and it is just about to reach its plateau of drinking. The tannins are, as I mentioned last year in my Escarpment portfolio review, Ultra HD. This is elite winemaking, and it makes the mind boggle. Sappy, teasing, evocative and sensational, there is no hurry to drink this wine, but there must be a rush to own it. At £43, this is a steal for a near-perfect Pinot.
