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Planet Wine Blog

Old Vine Red a non-vintage blend with stacks of admirers

For more than three decades critics have rated an unpretentious non-vintage blend from family-owned Marietta Cellars as one of California’s best value red wines. The Bilbro brothers themselves describe their Old Vine Red as “our modern Californian version of an Old World table wine”. A zinfandel-based blend, it’s typically made with the addition of petite sirah, [...]

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Kereru not the only local flavour to this brewer's craft beers

At the centre of Wellington’s burgeoning craft beer industry is the Kereru Brewing Company, a thriving business whose owners want their fresh natural beers to celebrate the unique qualities and flavours of their adopted country.Chris Mills, a native of Boston USA, first got a taste for brewing at age five when his mother taught him [...]

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Introduction to the Planet Wine Newsletter

Our first newsletter! Every month, we will share interesting stories of the producers & personalities behind our wide range of wines, beers and spirits and offer special promotions on featured products. This will also be our chance to invite you to tastings which we intend hosting regularly in the future. We will also be blogging, tweeting [...]

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Planet Wine impresses at premier event

Swords were drawn at Shed 10 on Auckland’s waterfront last month, as wine producers and distributors went into ‘battle’ to present their best for tasting in New Zealand’s inaugural Game of Rhones. Planet Wine had amassed vinous ‘troops’ from Spain, California, South Africa and Australia. We’d also dressed in our Thrones-inspired finest. And if return [...]

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Italian maverick creates world class Pinot Noir in Patagonia

In a wide glacial valley stretching 500km along the banks of the Rio Negro River in a remote region of Argentina lies a patchwork of unique vineyards. Surrounded by desert and irrigated by snow melt from the distant Andes mountains, this oasis produces a range of wines that is setting the benchmark in its country, [...]

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New breed of South African winemakers making waves internationally

South Africa has long been a hot topic on the international wine scene, but now a new generation of winemakers, several of them from the up and coming Swartland region on the Cape’s West Coast, are really causing people to sit up and take notice. “These bright young things are breathing new life and fresh air [...]

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Draft horses and dandelion a successful combination as boundaries are pushed at Champagne House Marguet

You would rarely expect to encounter draft horses at work on an established vineyard these days, even that of a 19 th century Champagne house. But innovative fifth generation winemaker Benoit Marguet has been ploughing his soil this way since 2010, and added two new animals, Titan and Urban, to the team this year. It’s all part [...]

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Hoppiest Kereru Ever

Upper Hutt craft brewery Kereru Brewing Company has brewed their hoppiest pale ale to date. Alex Bartley-Nees has based the brew on one of his gold medal-winning home brews and added just about as much Nelson Sauvin andMotueka hops as could be added to the beer. Alex has even gone so far as to double [...]

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A ‘black year’ in Spain and Italy impacts olive oil supply and price

Hot, dry weather in Spain and excessive rain, an olive fly attack and bacterial blight in Italy led to 2014 being labelled a ‘black year’ for olive oil producers. And down the line it’s now fuelling warnings from industry experts of a massive impending shortage in our favourite culinary oil.  Time to consider a few [...]

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FLOWER DAY PLANTING SETS THE WHEELS IN MOTION FOR FIRST ORGANIC WINES

The picturesque and historic Tenuta San Leonardo, situated high in the alpine valleys of north-east Italy's Trentino region and already famed for crafting award winning old school Bordeaux blends, is just three years off becoming an EU-certified organic wine producer. Having halted the use of pesticides and allowed the soil to rest for three years [...]

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