Comfort wines

These artisan gems are designed for cosying up and pairing with slow-cooked braises, and they all come from boundary-pushing winemakers.

Little Wing Waiheke Island Syrah 2016, $59.90

Gillian and Gareth MacLachlan both studied enology, in California and New Zealand respectively, and after working in France’s northern Rhône Valley, they became captivated by that region’s elegant, precise and powerful wines. Little Wing wines are made naturally, using minimal sulphur on bottling and no yeast, sugar, acid, enzymes or other fining agents. It goes to show how artisan craft and natural technique can conspire to create something truly impressive.

Finca Bacara Time Waits For No One 6M Jumilla Monastrell 2017, $29.90 This full-bodied organic red from Jumilla, southern Spain, is part of Finca Bacara’s Four Elements series, representing Earth. Time Waits For No One represents earthly beauty, reflecting Finca Bacara’s approach to the environment of Jumilla. This wine is 100 per cent monastrell, a grape otherwise known as mourvèdre or mataro, and found in Australian GSM blends. It has thrived in Jumilla, favouring the region’s hot, arid climate and cooler nights.

Mammoth Untouched Nelson Pinot Noir 2015, $59.90

Wine-making wizard Michael Glover’s approach with Mammoth is all about allowing the site to be expressed through intelligent, inventive winemaking. Yet, with the Untouched Pinot Noir, he has experimented with removing as many winemaking inputs as possible. The result is a darker-fruited, savoury expression of pinot noir that couldn’t be further from the light-and-fruity examples we’re more familiar with. Stabilised with just a touch of sulphur on bottling, this is as pure an expression of pinot as you could imagine.

Vinteloper Adelaide Hills Touriga Nacional 2017, $39.50

Touriga Nacional is the national red grape of Portugal and has found a surprisingly good home in South Australia’s Langhorne Creek, where it’s become particularly popular under David Bowley’s Vinteloper label – described by David as “the low and slow-cooked brisket of red wine”, with “the texture of soft salted caramel”. This touriga is bottled unfined and unfiltered and it spends 11 months in 100 per cent French oak, giving it texture and body without losing its approachability. Truly the comfort food of red wine.

Extremely elegant, with red fruits and florals balanced by meaty, herbaceous notes. A far cry from other Waiheke reds. Explosive, ripe and full-bodied, this is organic wine in its most approachable and accessible form. Wild brambly notes play against an earthy, meaty palate that pairs brilliantly with wild mushroom risotto. We love this wine for its blue and red fruits, its clove and five spice aromatics, and the fact it’s medium bodied and gentle on the palate.