Ogier Heritages Cotes du Rhone 2014
This wine is so delicious and fruity and saturated with cherry cola, raspberry and black forest gateaux flavours, that I want to shout from the rooftops how much I love it. A blend of grenache, syrah and cinsault, its texture is toasty, mouthwatering and edged with peppercorn, blueberries, cocoa and redcurrant characters. It's fleshy, sweetly spicy and just a joy to drink.
Sip with a mildly spicy curry, such as a lamb rogan josh.
Tesch Krone Riesling 2013
If riesling with a kiss of green apple, lime and ripe peachiness sounds like you, then wait until you sip this dry little dazzler. Tesch's Krone vineyard in the town of Laubenheim lies directly next to the Lohrer Berg on a steep slope consisting of coarse, decalcified loess and weathered sandstone and dramatic temperature extremes give this wine an "edgy disposition with layers of lifted citrus and appleskin".
Sip with apricot chicken.
Pyramid Valley Sutherland Till Vineyard Marlborough Chardonnay 2015
Organic wine icons Claudia and Mike Weersing of Pyramid Valley have decided to work with a tiny group of winegrowers around New Zealand to produce these "Growers Series" wines. This vineyard was planted in 1983 by Ivan Sutherland, the legendary viticulturist behind Cloudy Bay and Dog Point and 30-plus years' vine age has produced Mendoza-clone chardonnay bursting with spice and roast stonefruit, subtle nougat and grapefruit zest notes and a lovely creamy, oak induction.
Sip with Tuscan garlic chicken.
Yvonne Lorkin is co-founder and chief tasting officer of winefriend.co.nz and a Wine Writers of NZ member.
