Fine Wines World Cellar

29/02/2024

Red wine made from Cannonau had been the most distinctive thing on the Island of Sardegna (Sardinia) for centuries. Our last batch of Pala Centosere Cannonau di Sardegna DOC 2021 can be found here: https://finewines.co.nz/product/pala-i-fiori-cannonau-di-sardegna-doc/ (price at $30.75 per bottle)

Don't worry, if sold out, 2022 vintage should be available for NZ consumers in a few months time.

Cannonau di Sardegna DOC is one of five regional DOC level wine appellation that covers the whole island of Sardegna. The appellation was first established in 1972, according to its rules, the wine has to be made from least 85% Cannonau grape variety, and entirely vinified and bottled on the Island.

Genetics identification shows Cannonau is identical to Grenache/Garnacha. It is believed that the vines had been planted while the Kingdom of Aragon ruled, but it had been since evolved independently for at least five centuries.

The wine that Cannonau makes, generally has much stronger palate flavour, firmer tannin and bigger body than French Grenache.

Pala Centosere’s Cannonau di Sardegna is made from 100% Cannonau from vines with average age of 40 years old. All their vineyard has imposed a yield cap of 8 tons per hectare to enhance grape quality. The wine has undergone 7 days of cold maceration before fermentation, then temperature-controlled fermentation, to fully extract its both its colour, and aromatic precursors. There isn’t oak ageing, but 6 months of cement tank ageing and refinement. The wine is very expressive, full of ripe red fruit aroma, alongside with some distinctive bouquet of dry herbs.

Since you read to the end, here is a reward.
Used code: "summer10off" upon checkout, get 10% off anything from the website. Expires by end of March 2024.

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16/02/2024

Dicey brothers from Bannockburn, Central Otago, makes one of most amazing off-dry Riesling in New Zealand. If you like your white wine aromatic with a hint of sweetnees, check this one out: https://finewines.co.nz/product/ceres-bannockburn-black-rabbit-riesling-2018/

It's their last vintage that places under Ceres label, before the winery was renamed as "Dicey". Like any good Riesling, this wine will age beautifully, gracefully for the next decade and so.

The fruit for this wine was grown on Black Rabbit vineyard on Cairnmuir Road, Bannockburn. Black Rabbit is a 3.46 hectare site on an elevation of 250–315m with ancient geology approximately 400 million years old. The site is a steep North-facing slope with windblown schist loess over bedrock schist. The Riesling was planted in 2008.

And the 2018 fruit was harvested on the 13th March in excellent condition. The fruit was de-stemmed and pressed to tank where it was settled for a week, before racking slightly cloudy for ferment. The wine was fermented with native yeasts, the wine stopped naturally with 35g/L of residual sugar. The wine was filtered but not fined before being bottled in June.

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05/02/2024

When you think about Hawke's Bay wines, usually you don't think about Pinot Noir. However in Central Hawke's Bay, around the township of Waipawa, indeed the land consistently yield award-winning Pinot with high resemblance of Burgundian style.

Lime Rock Estate Pinot Noir, its 2015 vintage drinks absolutely superb at the moment, are on sale for $39.00 per bottle:
https://finewines.co.nz/product/lime-rock-pinotnoir/

Lime Rock Vineyard is an unique boutique wine producer in Central Hawke’s Bay, west side of the town Waipawa. The vineyard had been planted on the slopes of an old limestone quarry. The underlying limestone base is derived from an old sea bed. The crumbly limestone structure, called Coquina made up of crushed barnacle shells, embedded with large scallop and oyster shells that form the base of the logo. The entire property occupies 20 hectares of lands, of which 9 hectares are planted.

All vines are trained on VSP trellis system, with about 2500 vines per hectare. We aim to have yields of less than 2kg per vine. Shoot thinning and leaf plucking are done by hand and any green bunches removed before veraison. The reserve Pinot Noir comes mainly from a very steep slope planted with clones 777, 667 and Abel.

The vintage of 2015 had been harvested early April. All berries are fermented in small parcels, one batch per day. The fruit is soaked in juice at cool temperatures for 3-5 days and allow the ferment to take its course before pressing and filling our premium barrels. The barrel came from famous French coopers, like Mercurey, Dargaud & Jaegle and François Frères. After malo-lactic fermentation and ageing the wines for about eight months in our 225 litres barrels we blend the best of the barrels.