Rod McDonald Wines One Off Hawkes Bay Cabernet Merlot 2014NZ Listener Picks Classics Merlot as Best Red under $20! In the 12 July issue of the NZ Listener, Michael Cooper reviewed a range of "best buying reds" for around $20. Shiraz from Australia, Cabernet Merlot and Syrah from the Hawkes Bay, Pinot Noir from Marlborough were all covered, including wines from our friends at CJ Pask, Mission and Trinity Hill. His pick for the Wine of the Week: Coopers Creek Classics Hawkes Bay Merlot 2009!To maintain your security you have have been logged out from Waitrose Cellar due to no activity. Order by phone 0800 188881 Save up to 25% on our most stylish Sauvignon Blancs > "I am reminded that this industry is still so full of individuals who see wine as a vocation, a genuine thrill rather than ‘work’. The fact I can say that straight after the vintage, where many have barely slept for three months, is testament to their passion. Be assured that although millions of bottles are produced each year, care and quality is the foundation."

Alexandra Mawson, Waitrose New Zealand wine buyer, following her tour of suppliers in May, 2016. Your selected range: 60 bottles Price (high to low) Price (low to high) 14 Weeknight Reds Mix A mix of crowd pleasing and award-winning reds Featuring Trophy and Gold Medal winning Wolf Blass Red Label Shiraz Grenache Including JJ McWilliam Shiraz from a 5 Star Halliday winerytop 10 red wine in india A Trans-Tasman mix featuring NZ Pinot and Merlot plus Australia's Shiraz and Cabernetgood wine suggestions Carefully chosen to compliment change-of-season dinnerstotal wine best buys Includes wines from producers James Halliday rates among the bestbest wine list ireland

Dinner Party Favourites Mix The perfect 14 bottle mix of wines for dinner Includes a bottle of the Stefano de Pieri White Label Moscato Featuring the bronze medal winning Paradox Gisborne Cuvee A World Of Reds From Nelson to Chile, Bordeaux to Argentina, these reds bring the world to your doorstep A tally of 2 Gold medals, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and 5 stars gives you the assurance of expertsbest selling red wine uk If you can't experience these wines in their homeland, travel on your tastebuds for $13.99 a bottle insteadbest wine list in paris Weeknight 14 Featuring Rosebest wine that's cheap 14 bottles to inspire kitchen creativitybest kind of wine with pizza

Includes all-New Zealand Whites and all-Australian reds With two delicious Rose Castillo Del Rey Tempranillo Red 2015 Produced at a BRC certified winery in Cataluña Smooth, fruity and easy to drink Made from the best Tempranillo grapes Essential Reds With Rose A world of reds in one case Favourite varieties from New Zealand, Australia and South Americabest white wine drinks With two bottles of Lobster Reef Rose Essential Reds With Pinot Noir These really are your essential reds for the season A trans-Tasman assortment including wines from top producers And two bottle of South Island Pinot Noir Boasting 1 Platinum medal, 1 Double-Gold, 6 Golds, 6 Silvers and 6 Bronzes This is red-wine heaven for wine judges Utterly insane value for $19.99 a bottle A Trans-Tasman mix of NZ whites and Australasian reds All chosen to make autumn meal matching easy

Delivering the quality of entertaining wines for a weeknight quaffer price Connoisseur's Choice Dozen With Pinot Noir The reds and whites mix with massive regional wow factor Reserve Sauvignon, Chardonnay by Pask and Central Otago Pinot Gris Plus Eden Valley Merlot, Barossa Shiraz and Coonawarra Cabernet Here's the case for those who take their Australian Shiraz seriously It highlights renowned regions such as Barossa, Currency Creek and Clare Valley Yet it's all yours for a mere $12.99 a bottle Must-have 14 With Rose Stock the cellar for winter with this larger case You'll get all-New Zealand whites and all-Australian reds Plus two bottles of Hawkes Bay Rose 14 Reds And Whites Mix A great value mix of crowd pleasers and award winners Includes exclusive to us Whisper Rock Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Exemplary Australian and NZ reds that serve as benchmarks for their regions With a bottle of the triple-Gold-winning Shark's Block that James Halliday awarded 91 points

All are superb drinking now with plenty of potential remaining - make this case the cornerstone of your cellar Kiwi Wines Worth Trying In 2015: An Expert’s Tips To mark the 2015 release of Michael Cooper’s best selling Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines, Cooper reveals which wines are worth trying in the coming months. What are some stand out new additions to the 2015 guide? The Best White Wine Buy of the Year is Villa Maria Cellar Selection Hawke’s Bay Viognier 2014 (****1/2, $19.95). A full-bodied, fleshy, rich and dry wine with strong, ripe stone-fruit flavours and complexity from aging in French oak barrels, it’s the sort of wine for which you could easily pay well over $30. The Best Red Wine Buy of the Year is Brancott Estate Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2013 (****, $17). If you are looking for a delicious, flavour-packed red that slips down easily and is highly affordable (when it’s on promotion, you can pick it up for less than $15), look no further.

As a white-wine country, in terms of overall output, we grow grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris that are of French origin. But wine lovers who are feeling adventurous should try one of the emerging breed of New Zealand whites based on traditional Spanish, Portuguese, Austrian and Italian varieties. Albarino, from north-west Spain, yields apricot-scented, crisp, mouth-watering wines, usually served with seafood, but also enjoyable with Chinese-style chicken dishes. Gruner Veltliner, Austria’s favourite white-wine variety, produces tangy, slightly spicy, musky wines, good with fish and a stimulating aperitif. In terms of wine styles, rather than grape varieties, rosé is increasingly trendy and about 100 NZ rosés have been reviewed in the new book. What about up-and-coming regions, and what varieties are they producing well? Waipara, in North Canterbury, is increasingly recognised for the high quality of its full-bodied, richly flavoured Pinot Noirs and scented, appetisingly crisp Rieslings.

Arguably the most underrated region is Nelson, the source of some excellent – and often bargain-priced – Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminers, Chardonnays, Rieslings and Pinot Noirs. Will we be seeing more wines designed to be served with ice, such as Akarua’s Alchemy Ice and Moët Ice Impérial?As it melts, ice dilutes a wine’s flavour. The best way to cool a wine is to put it in the fridge for an hour or so. Serve it gently chilled, rather than cold. Which stickers or awards on wine bottles are worth paying attention to? With more than a dozen wine competitions in New Zealand, and lots of magazines organising comparative tastings, consumers are faced with a bewildering array of awards (including over 750 gold medals each year and countless five-star ratings.) Some gold-coloured stickers have nothing to do with gold medals, but simply state in small print things like ‘Established 1965’ or ‘100 per cent estate-grown in Hawke’s Bay.’ The most important guide to wine quality is the reputation of the producer – go for wineries with a long-term reputation for quality.

Is price a good indication of quality? If all else fails, price can be a rough-and-ready guide to quality. Beware of buying a wine simply because it is heavily discounted. Many wines are ‘priced up to price down’, and those ‘normal retail price’ $25 wines, discounted to $15, “Save $10”, typically taste just like a $15 wine. For their sheer value-for-money from one vintage to the next, my two favourites ranges of wine are Villa Maria’s middle-tier range, labelled Cellar Selection, and the Church Road range (from Pernod Ricard NZ, formerly Montana.) Designed to help the buyer to make informed choices about the best value and best quality wines available, Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines is firmly established as the most authoritative and sought-after guide to New Zealand wines. Updated yearly with new tasting notes and vintage ratings, including the most current vintage, this is a ‘must-have’ publication for the new initiate and the established wine-buff alike.