Bright golden with a fine bead of bubbles, it’s complex on the nose with vanilla, bread and brûlée flavours on the palate. Generous, rich and mouth-filling.

Both the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay come from the winemakers Maraekakaho vineyard. Planted on ancient river terrace formed by the Ngaruroro River, which now flows 60m below the vineyard. The remaining terraces are made up of greywacke gravels and a topsoil of windblown loess.

Keeping it simple and traditional in the winery. The fruit was handpicked and very gently whole bunch pressed, the juice was cold settled, racked and fermented cool. Post ferment the wine rested on lees and went through MLF before heading for secondary fermentation in bottle to create the bubble. The wine was then aged on lees in bottle for four years before disgorging. We’ve added no dosage, so the texture all comes from concentrated fruit and traditional technique.

A long time in the making. This is one of the most challenging wines the winemaking team have ever made. Imagine this… grapes picked early, when acid is too high and sugar too low to make normal wine, fermented and put in the bottle cloudy with a little sweet reserve, then fermented for the second time to make bubbles… madness. Left in the dark, cool cellar to gain flavour, balance and length before it’s disgorged, corked and labelled, FOUR YEARS LATER! But jingers it’s a lovely drink. A no-expense spared homage to great French fizz.