Te Mata's Coleraine, from Hawke's Bay, and Waiheke Island's Stonyridge Larose are probably the most traded in Auckland's small auction market, regularly appearing, and selling, in case quantities. Other contenders are two further Hawke's Bay wines – Church Road's Tom series and Esk Valley's The Terraces. There are other wines, but these are the principal contenders. It is still possible to taste complete vertical tastings of these wines and I am delighted to be able to report that I did that last week at a tasting of The Terraces.
Esk Valley's offering is perhaps the least conventional of this bunch, being a wine that is predominantly Malbec and coming from a tiny 1.9-hectare terraced vineyard.
