5/18/2024 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Light in color. Pungent, stony/earthy, mushroom/forest floor, delicately spicy, red fruit and rose aromas, quite pretty and coming across as positively Burgundian with a terrific general pungency bordering on funky but extremely attractive. Similar flavors, with good acidity, tension and poise, weightless and ethereal. Light in tannins and body, although it does have a silky roundness; but not light at all in substance, depth and complexity. Oak is quite subtle (100% old barrels). Stony minerality develops toward the finish, with an appetizing hint of bitterness. Good stuff!

3/18/2024 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; drinkable right away. Fresh, crunchy red fruit, seedy, sappy, straightforward, snappy, pleasant, with plenty of acidity, and additional structure from medium-strength tannins, but seems made to drink young. Not complex but not trying to be, just a tasty, fresh, fun little wine.

"The Merlot (85%) was sourced from the Endeavour Vineyard in Bridge Pa, Hawke’s Bay and the Pinot Noir (13%) and Tempranillo (2%) from the Trig Hill Vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago."

3/13/2024 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. But a touch carbonated so decanted; at its best after two hours in the decanter. Quite aromatic, with some VA but it works, seeming to amplify the other aromas. Raspberry- and mulberry-like red and dark fruit with berry seeds, stems and leaves, stony earth, black pepper and streaks of smoke, meat and general savoriness, and vinegar. Similar flavors, with a lot of acidity, bordering on sour. Tasty, characterful, fun wine. I wouldn't have guessed this is Cab Franc, but that's alright.

2/2/2024 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Grapefruit juice and peel sorts of aromas with a funky streak but in a good way, quite citrusy, 'sharp' even yet friendly. Similar flavors, juicy, citrusy, fresh, fun, but with some savoriness, depth and substance, and plenty of acidity. Good stuff, good value, fun wine.

11/24/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Cool plum, blackcurrant, dried herbs, dusty/earthy/gravelly, tobacco and menthol aromas, hanging together well, with some depth, and little oak, just some subtle old barrel. Similar flavors, with decently grippy but smooth tannins, seems ready to drink young, and good acidity. Comes across as 'fresh' and coolish climate but not overtly green. Tasty and well balanced. Excellent value.

11/17/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p at room temp. Smells good - lemon, boysenberry, white pepper, wintergreen, grass and wet rocks with a streak of savoriness. Similar flavors, with good concentration, medium-bodied texture, and plenty of acidity. Quite drinkable. Characterful wine, and just plain tasty, good stuff. Ridiculous value.

11/10/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p, seems pretty ready to go right away. Fresh pomegranate-like fruit, with lots of acidity and youthful energy, and stony/mineral, saline and earthy notes. Touch of barnyard funk, presumably Brett but it's moderate and not unpleasant. Good concentration and substance while staying quite fresh and drinkable. Fun, tasty wine, and definitely scratches the Mencia itch.

11/7/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Fresh aroma, not all that fruity but almost musky melon with savory and herbaceous notes. Similar on the palate, completely dry, with good acidity and a slightly bitter, appetizing finish. Excellent value (paid just 19 NZD).

11/2/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Aroma of crushed fresh berries, fairly intense, with herbaceous, bay laurel, menthol, spice and black pepper sorts of highlights. Similarly concentrated but fresh on the palate, with quite a lot of acidity, chewy tannins, and streaks of salinity and herbaceous bitterness, coming across as a bit young perhaps but hanging together pretty well really. No noticeable oak. Quite moreish, with the bitterness toward the finish contributing to that. Fun wine and a good value.

11/1/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p at room temperature. Smells really good - nutty, oxidative, Jura-like aromas as advertised, married with more New World orchard fruit richness, along with lemony and mealy notes. Touch of spice comes through; label says old barrels and this checks out. With an hour or two of air in the bottle it picks up some extra pungency and savory depth. Similar flavors, with silky texture, lifted by good acidity. Taut, cool fruit. This is excellent!

10/28/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; probably best with some air. Pretty consistent with how I remember previous vintages on release: young and disjointed but good, with lots of promise to reward cellaring. Cherries, flowers, sap, herbs, salt, stony earth. Good acidity and fairly tannic. No alcohol sticking out in this vintage. Tasty, characterful, good stuff and a terrific value as always.

10/19/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; seems pretty ready to go, certainly more open than a bottle two years ago. Aged and fresh berrylike fruit, dried and fresh flowers/hibiscus, dill, and Balsamic-like notes, with savory depth and substance. On the palate ample acidity ties everything together. Good stuff.

10/15/2023 - Beerzebub wrote:

P&p. Pleasant aromas of raspberryish fruit, rose and black pepper with a touch of earthiness. Fresh. Good acidity. Moderate tannins. Light in weight and very easy to drink, sort of like like cranberry juice. Fun, refreshing wine, not one to ponder over but would be nice to take on a picnic.

10/13/2023 - Beerzebub wrote:

P&p. Very Cab Franc aromas of black tea/leaves, mossy earth, gravel, dark-red charry-like fruit, violets and black pepper. On the palate it's softer than wines from the Loire, with not much in the way of tannins; seems like some more robust grippiness wouldn't be a bad thing. Nice touch of acidity, but again more would be welcome. Light in weight. Fully dry and going appetizingly bitter toward the finish. Short finish and somewhat lacking in substance mid-palate, but tasty enough, very easy to drink and does offer good varietal character; probably not a repurchase but fun to try.

10/7/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

A bit closed at first, opens up with 30+ minutes of air in the bottle. Smells great - delicate floral, lemon oil and spicy high notes, with oatmeal, hazelnut and orchard fruits deeper down. The fruit comes through more on the palate, like nectarine and apple mainly, with citrus oil, flowers, herbs, and salinity. Fairly fleshy texture, lifted by plenty of fresh, citrusy acidity. Stony minerality toward the finish. Good stuff!

10/5/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Typical cool plum and cherry aromas with dark chocolate, stony and leafy accents. Crunchy, fresh acidity and moderate tannins, coming across as cranberrylike but with the darker fruit. Nice streak of salinity. Stony minerality toward the finish. Fun wine and a good value. Best right down at cellar temp.

10/2/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Smells good - pretty classic lime, jasmine and petrichor sorts of scents, fleshed out with mango and a touch of custardy richness. On the palate it's just off dry, surprising given that it's specified as dry, but not a problem at all. Plenty of acidity to offset the slight sweetness. Juicy and delicious with fresh lime juice front and center. A bit of stony/chalky minerality comes through towards the finish. Not quite enough complexity and interest to be really compelling, but it could be an estate wine from a good German producer. Quite enjoyable, and a good value at 30ish NZD.

9/30/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; seems pretty ready to go. Smells good, mainly like cherries, black tea, mushrooms/forest floor, and spicy oak (but not sticking out). Similar flavors, the fruit is nice and fresh especially considering the wine is nine years old. Plenty of savory and earthy character and some oak barrel complementing the fruit, with everything hanging together well. Seems to have the cohesiveness that age can bring, while not showing its age. Good acidity. Moderate tannins, coming across as tealike. Tasty, enjoyable and characterful wine, with a general sense of authenticity. Seems likely at optimal age for drinking, with the freshness of the fruit still there. Excellent value. Makes me want to try more from this producer.

9/24/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; seems pretty ready to go. Translucent hue, brownish around the edges, looking positively Burgundian. Smells good, along the lines of strawberry preserves, cassis, berry brambles, garrigue, spice, and ashes, with alcohol poking through a bit but it works; plenty of house style. Similar flavors, mainly strawberry and bittersweet sappy garrigue, with good acidity, and slightly grippy well integrated tannins. Comes across as somewhat alcoholic, but overall it delivers; tasty wine with loads of character.

9/22/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; seems ready to go. Smells like fresh crushed mulberries/blackberries with their seeds, along with touches of earth and cedar. Similar on the palate, with lots of acidity, and rustic/coarse, medium-strength tannins. Quite a delicate touch with the wood (apparently 50% old barrels, 50% stainless steel). Fresh, characterful, tasty wine, good value. Seems like drink or hold.

9/15/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

By the glass at Noble Rot in Wellington. Deep dark fruit aroma, with a fig paste aspect but fresh too, a bit tight and monolithic yet pretty and alluring. Similar flavors, with big rustic acidity and tannins. Nice!

9/15/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

By the glass at Noble Rot in Wellington. Cool, understated stone fruit and shells/sea breeze aromas. Good dose of iodine and marine salinity. Lives up to its name. Good acidity. Fresh and tasty. Enjoyable.

9/13/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Smells good - walnut, smoke, varnish, apricot, lots of wood but it manages to come across as integrated. Similar flavors, bone dry, with good acidity. Good intensity to price ratio.

8/7/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Crunchy fruit salad aroma like a mix of cherries, plums and apples, with flowers, leaves/twigs, cloves/black pepper, and touches of smoke and earth; a bit wild/'natural' but within reason; attractive. Tastes good - fresh, with good acidity, tasty fruit, with some complexity and interest, finishing dry with some sappy, moreish bitterness. On par with the geekier Beaujolais in its modest price bracket; tasty and fun wine.

Found this to be a more complete wine than the producer's Chenin Blanc, although I liked that one too.

8/1/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Smells good - cool orchard fruit with pungent petrichor minerality, with some wild/'natural'/sweaty funk, not in a bad way. On the palate it's fairly light-bodied, mineral, dry, with good acidity, a touch grassy/green and evocative of NZ SB in that aspect but it works. The fruit comes through as unripe. The wine is far from elegant, with lots of sharp edges, and comes across as sort of watery and lacking in substance/depth, but interesting and fun to drink.

7/17/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Quite fresh and lively, smells like crushed raspberries with herbs, lettuce or garden peas or something, and coffee. Certainly seems to have some pyrazines character, but in a good way. Ample acidity. Tasty. So fresh and drinkable, while not lacking in fruit/concentration. Comes across as young and wild, but it works. Fun wine.

7/15/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Another excellent bottle of this. Consistent with my note from a couple months ago, I'll just add that raspberry, berry seeds and fresh herbaceous note like mint or wintergreen come through. Vivacious, characterful, delicious. Worked well with pan seared steaks.

7/2/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Needs air; reviewing the last glass five hours after opening. Terrific stony minerality, cool fresh green apple and lime sorts of fruit, with a touch of custardy richness. Complex, with quite an array of notes from stony depth to delicate floral highlights. Just off dry. Tense, young, but delicious; quite promising.

6/16/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p at cellar temp. Citrus, orchard/tropical fruit and custardy sorts of aromas, with a pleasant sharpness not unlike Pixy Stix. Tasty, fresh, with some fleshy substance while staying highly drinkable with good acidity and a nice streak of salinity. Some stony minerality comes through, and picks up with air in the bottle. Some typical Chenin wooliness is there in the background, but subtle. Not huge on intensity or complexity, but not has some of both; in any case the salinity really makes the wine. Tasty, appetizing, moreish stuff.

6/3/2023 - Beerzebub wrote:

P&p. Quite primary - attractive blackcurrant sort of fruit aroma, with touches of earth and moderate cedar-like/spicy oak. Lots of tannic grip. Nice fresh acidity as well. Fairly full-bodied, but lifted nicely by the acidity. Fun wine but way young; or at least don't p&p like I did? Still tasty though. Best with food (went well with biltong).

5/26/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Earth/gravel, leafy/twiggy, mushroom, cool dark-red fruit aromas, offering some rustic, 'old world' character. Some spicy oak, not too much. Tart dark red fruit on the palate; heaps of acidity; light on tannins. Tasty, glouglou, enjoyable entry level wine from an excellent producer, good value.

5/20/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

By the glass at Noble Rot in Wellington. From a just opened bottle, but it's surprisingly somewhat open. Fig paste, violet, rose sorts of aromas; and just smells good - delicious but deep. Tannic, young, but enjoyable. Enjoying this on its own, although it would probably be best with food at this stage. Good fruit, good acidity. Would like to try this aged.

5/20/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

By the glass at Noble Rot in Wellington. Good saline, briny, marine intensity, good acidity, focused, enjoyable, good food wine.

5/20/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

By the glass at Noble Rot in Wellington. Smells good, like citrus juice and peel mixed with river rocks and a bit of fresh mint. On the palate lemon, orange, orchard fruits, a bit floral and bitter, dry, with ample acidity, and some silky oiliness and grip. Good stuff, tasty and offers plenty of interest. Paired well with beef tartare.

5/12/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; pretty much ready to go but at its best with 2+ hours of air in the bottle. My last of four bottles, hasn't changed much over the past three years. Vivacious, cherrylike, dark red fruit and flowers with juniper and smoky rocks. Ample acidity. Fairly tannic as well. Touch of leathery agedness, fairly subtle. Delicious and characterful wine, wish I had more.

5/10/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p at cellar (shed) temp. Poised and pretty, cool orchard fruit, citrus, jasmine, fennel seed, and stony mineral sorts of aromas; not as primary as I remember the previous two vintages being, especially on release. Citrusy nectarine and chalky/stony/mineral on the palate, with a fleshy, almost silky texture lifted by excellent acidity. Quite tasty, well composed, and well balanced. Ridiculously good value.

5/7/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Good stuff! Very much like the 2019 from what I recall. Red and black fruit, fresh, crunchy and vivacious yet serious, with smoky and savory depth, some richness to the texture, and a general sense of substance. Leafy/herbaceous and floral accents. Quite subtle spicy oak. Well put together, characterful, quite enjoyable and an excellent value. Liking every wine I try from this producer.

4/26/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p around cellar temp. Light, cool mixed berries with clove/allspice and some earth/moss/twigs. Good acidity. Practically no tannins. Quite refreshing; drinkability through the roof. Fun wine, enjoyable with or without food.

4/4/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p at a cool shed temperature. Cloudy red. Quite lightly carbonated. Crunchy, fresh red fruit - hibiscus/pomegranate/cranberry/red cherry/etc. Juicy and crushable. Nice fresh acidity. Light on tannins, but they're there, adding to the refreshment factor and drinkability, like iced tea or something. Delicious. Drink now.

4/2/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Another excellent bottle of this. No major change from a year ago. Like drinking lime juice, gently infused with jasmine, from a limestone chalice. Banging acidity, coming across as almost completely dry but with just enough sugar to keep it balanced. Very stony/mineral finish. Pretty wine, delicious, ridiculous value.

3/26/2023 - Beerzebub wrote:

Blackcurrant/blackberry and lightly herbaceous/leafy/twiggy aromas, fairly straightforward. Tannic and fully dry, as expected but a bit more full on Madiran in style than the 2017. Good acidity. No obvious oak. Doesn't hang together all that well, but delivers the Tannat goods and at this price I have no complaints.

3/25/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Earthy aroma, with a bit of a potting soil/compost aspect even, but clean and fresh and attractively rocky/mineral, along with fairly typical mossy/herbaceous/leafy, black pepper and fresh strawberry/cherry/cranberryish sorts of fruit aromas. Light-bodied, with good acidity, and light in tannins with just a bit of grip; tasty/moreish, refreshing and highly drinkable, firmly in 'glouglou' territory. Pretty evocative of Loire Cab Franc, especially basic but delicious wines like Chidaine Touraine Rouge or Breton 'Trinch!'; has some New World fruity exuberance which fits right in. Fun little wine - characterful, enjoyable, and a good value.

3/21/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p at cellar temp. Citrus, black cherry, fennel seed and scrub aromas, with touches of savory smokiness and musk. Pleasant fruit and good acidity, tasty, with salinity toward the finish. Plenty of character and interest, especially for the modest price. Another good vintage of this, not as primary as the 2020, more similar to the 2019 and 2018.

3/18/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Loads of violet, almost like opening a tin of violet pastilles, along with fresh, spicy, grapy, dark-reddish fruit and underlying earth; fresh and attractive. Similar on the palate, with a good dose of appetizing salinity and banging acidity. Ample fruit. Fresh and juicy. Spicy finish. Tasty, fun wine. Much better (and cleaner) than a bottle of a different wine from this producer that I tried previously; glad I gave the producer a second chance.

3/7/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Opened at room temp. Pear-like estery aroma, with lemon oil, spearmint, and fleeting briny, marine funk. Similar flavors - juicy, cool, lean fruit, with good saline and limestone-like minerality and decent acidity. Refreshing, fun, characterful wine, and like all things Pépière an excellent value.

2/24/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Fortified with pot still brandy (17.5% abv). P&p at room temp. Concentrated orchard fruit, white grape, tinned fruit cocktail aromas; spicy, aromatic, with just a touch of marc funk. On the palate it's fairly sweet, but with good balancing acidity and spice. Spicy finish, seeming to end almost dry despite the sugar. Quite drinkable with food; fun wine.

2/23/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p. Earthy, smoky, black pepper, dried dark fruit and dried leaves/herbs sorts of aromas. On the deep, dark and savory side, but some freshness comes through too, and more so on the palate where there's plenty of acidity together with fairly robust tannins. Tasty, fully dry, somewhat bitter towards the finish adding to the moreishness. Offers some serious substance and general sense of authenticity. Good stuff, and a good value.

2/9/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

P&p; ready to go right out of the bottle, pungent and expressive. Aromas of dark red fruit, smoke, black pepper, oil cured olives and leaves/sap. Nice depth, with a sense of substance and layered complexity. The fruit is richer and darker than it was a few years ago, lifted by ample acidity and working really well. Sappy, delicious, terrific wine, really scratching the Loire Cab Franc itch, wish this wasn't my last bottle.

1/9/2023 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Already more together than it was when released. A little air and it's firing on all cylinders. Layered, complex, grainy, spicy, mineral, with lovely cool fruit, funky/smoky 'struck flint', and banging acidity. Good stuff.

12/17/2022 - Beerzebub Likes this wine:

Another good bottle. Opened at room temp. Lean, briny/saline/marine, lemony, underripe-peachy, minty. Concur with Sleepyhaus that it comes across as a touch dilute, but still quite enjoyable and very much preferable to vintages that come across as too ripe.