The wines of Waipara

North Canterbury is abundant with award-winning wineries, and beautiful cellar doors and vineyards. The area is a haven for winemaking, with the perfect climate for grape growing; long sunshine hours, hot dry summers, and long autumns. The sheltered Waipara area is close to the sea, and the warm days and cool nights provide a prolonged […]

Cup Day Champagnes: Big Daddy’s Liquor

“Why do I drink champagne for breakfast? Doesn’t everyone?” asked Noel Coward. Metropol writer Nicholas Henare agrees with him, suggesting a visit to Big Daddy’s Liquor is just the thing to sort out your bubbles. Champagne adds a sparkle to any occasion, including breakfast. Sitting on my coffee table is a large bowl of Champagne […]

Why Waipara Springs Winery?

The Waipara wine region, an hour north of Christchurch, boasts 75 vineyards and stretches over more than 1,200 hectares of plantings. It is renowned for the amazing pinot noirs and rieslings that are produced there. But every great region has an equally great origin story; a pioneer in the trade and for this particular district… […]

Toast to champagne

At this time of year, we are turning our heads to celebrations; Christmas parties and family get-togethers. Regardless of the event, nothing says celebration like the most prestigious of wines: champagne.     A severe set of winters in the 49th parallel north in the 1600s saw the French offloading late-fermenting, sweet – about 30 […]

Wines for the taste conscious!: The Winemaker’s Wife

The Winemaker’s Wife wines are the creation of husband and wife business partners, Simon McGeorge and Olive Hill.   Their back-label reads, ‘This wine celebrates our partnership and is a tribute to all that can be achieved by two people working together’. Clearly their partnership works as they are into their fifth vintage. Simon is […]

A vintage year: Cross Hares

The daffodils are in full flower, lambs are frolicking and the vines at Cross Hares are already forming new buds of spring.     For vintners Natalie and Warrick Edwards, it’s been a busy year at the vineyard, but the rewards have been worth all the hard work and anxiety, as by early October they […]