Take everything you think you know about New Zealand wines, and toss it out the window. This is a singular, special example unlike anything you’ve had. Stacked with big scores, priced at 50% OFF and sure to impress.

We scored a small amount of this and it will completely change your perspective on what’s possible from the land where so many cheaper, unremarkable, and uninspired wines flood our store shelves.

“Senior Winemaker Gordon Russell has been leading the Esk Valley team for close to 30 years. His big gun is the Heipipi The Terraces, a Malbec-led blend that has become one of New Zealand’s top collectibles. It’s one of the top Hawke’s Bay red blends to have crossed this taster’s lips.” – Wine Advocate

If the Keltern Chardonnay is the highest scoring, most sought after white by the Villa Maria group, the Esk Valley Terraces is the red equivalent of that.

Equally complex, equally rare, equally stunning.

Big press too. 95 JS plus double 96 points from other pros, and once again, the best price anywhere.

Normally a $150 wine, is where it should be. But we don’t do SHOULD around here. How about COULD. As low as it could go, all the way down to $78 – splitting the difference with you with a jaw-dropping $78 remaining in your pockets per each and every bottle, for being an Operative with us.

From a hillside vineyard (hence the name), this Malbec-lead Bordeaux blend is harvested on a single day and co-fermented in an open-top concrete fermenter, then aged in 50% new French barriques for good measure. It’s silky, layered with red and black berries, baking spices, Herbs de Provence, ready to slip in and dominate any lineup of top Bordeaux blends from anywhere else in the world. Truly a spellbinding wine in every sense.

Tiny bit imported like the Keltern, while it lasts…

96 Points – Decanter

“Youthful, fresh fruit-laden core but also very floral: violets, cassis, plums and black cherry then black berry and barrel spices. Vine age, dry farming and more organic, hands-free vineyard management is reflected. The palate follows the nose (dark berries, plums, anise, violets and blackcurrant) with graphite emerging as the wine opens up along with flavours of soil and site. There’s notable acicity and an abundance of tannins with polish, finesse and refinement. Lengthy and complex, but also very young. Delicious! Drinking window 2030-2040.”

96 Points – Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review

“A blend of Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Dense, rich wine with obvious Malbec influence adding weight and mouthfeel to the wine. Nicely layered with dark fruits, pepper, spice, woodsmoke, leather and cigar box flavours. A big and youthful wine that promises to age well in the bottle. Drink now-2028.”

95 Points – James Suckling

“Every bit as impressive and slick as the 2015, this has a beautifully seductive, dark-fruited nose with attractive earthy and spicy complexity. There’s a succulent, elegantly powerful and seamlessly delivered array of ripe plums, mulberries and blueberries on the palate. A Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Good aging potential. Drink or hold.”