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Smith & Sheth Vineyards of Exceptional Quality

Sharing the pleasure, culture and craft of wine.

“Half a century later, it’s New Zealand’s turn to upset that new/old world order.”That’s quite an opening from Max Allen...
21/10/2026

“Half a century later, it’s New Zealand’s turn to upset that new/old world order.”

That’s quite an opening from Max Allen who introduces our Opposites < > Attract tastings in the Australian Financial Review and takes us back 50 years to the famous Judgement of Paris.

Max joined us in Christchurch for the first of our three blind tastings, putting ten Chardonnays from Pyramid Valley and Smith & Sheth alongside 14 from Burgundy.

What we didn’t know at the time was whether the results we saw that day would hold up when we did it all again in London and Burgundy.

Turns out, they did.

As Max writes, despite the different locations and different groups of tasters, the results across all three tastings were “remarkably similar”.

AFR subscribers can read Max’s full piece at the Australian Financial Review.

Three out of four.In the final two flights of Opposites < > Attract, Jancis Robinson MW tasted four Smith & Sheth Chardo...
12/10/2026

Three out of four.

In the final two flights of Opposites < > Attract, Jancis Robinson MW tasted four Smith & Sheth Chardonnays blind alongside some pretty serious white Burgundy.

When it came to guessing where they were from, she picked Howell, Onewa and our yet-to-be-released Les Graviers as Burgundy. And Quinn very nearly made it four. Her note had her wondering whether it could be Chevalier or PYCM before eventually deciding it was “an antipodean tribute to burgundy” and settling on New Zealand.

Swipe through for Jancis’ notes on these w**es, plus the Pyramid Valley Chardonnays featured in her recommendations in her recent FT Weekend article. Link in comments for more on the tasting.

06/10/2026

For Opposites < > Attract, our w**es were tasted blind by 43 leading w**e minds, including 13 Masters of W**e, four Master Sommeliers, and buyers from some of Australasia’s and Europe’s most respected fine w**e merchants.

One was Jancis Robinson captured here tasting with us in Burgundy.

She has now shared her take on Opposites < > Attract across three pages of , describing the whole exercise as “a real triumph for New Zealand”.

More at the link in comments 👇🏻

Your weekend read is here… (but Steve beat you to it!)A few months ago, Opposites < > Attract was just a big, bold, ambi...
03/10/2026

Your weekend read is here… (but Steve beat you to it!)

A few months ago, Opposites < > Attract was just a big, bold, ambitious idea: put our New Zealand Chardonnay up against some of Burgundy’s finest, serve the w**es blind, and see what happens.

Three tastings later (one each in Christchurch, London and Burgundy), Jancis Robinson MW’s story about the tastings has just been published across a whopping three pages of FT Weekend, one of the UK’s most prestigious and influential weekend publications.

The headline: “A humbling for white burgundy.” 😳

Our Smith & Sheth Onewa and Howell Chardonnays and Pyramid Valley Low Burn and North Canterbury Chardonnays all make Jancis’ recommended list, plus some pretty great words for the yet to be released Smith & Sheth Les Graviers Chardonnay. As for her thoughts on the tasting? She describes the whole exercise as “a real triumph for New Zealand”.

There’s plenty more we’ll be sharing from this, but we’re taking the rest of the weekend off to celebrate (while keeping a close eye on the FT comments thread...)

Link below for Jancis’ full article, which she has generously made free for all on her website.

https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/new-zealand-challenge-white-burgundy

‘Pretty perfect.’ ‘Pure class.’ ‘A superstar w**e.’Roger Jones was one of the leading w**e minds who joined us at our Lo...
29/09/2026

‘Pretty perfect.’ ‘Pure class.’ ‘A superstar w**e.’

Roger Jones was one of the leading w**e minds who joined us at our London Opposites < > Attract event to taste 24 Chardonnays blind - ten from Smith & Sheth and Pyramid Valley, alongside 14 from Burgundy.

Writing for The Buyer, his scores included 96 points for Smith & Sheth Howell Chardonnay and our yet-to-be-released Les Graviers, alongside 95 points for Quinn Chardonnay.

He highlighted Howell as ‘pretty perfect’, Quinn had him thinking ‘fine Burgundy’, and Les Graviers was his ‘star w**e of the tasting’ (a “superstar w**e” in fact!).

Across the wider tasting, the Pyramid Valley w**es also offered plenty to talk about, including 96 points for Low Burn Chardonnay and 95 points for both North Canterbury Chardonnay and Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay.

Swipe through for Roger’s take on the w**es, including a few cases where New Zealand had him thinking Burgundy.

Full story at the link below:
https://www.the-buyer.net/tasting/w**e/opposites-attract-burgundy

Ever since we started using candles at our Omahu vineyard to protect our precious vines from Jack Frost, Richard Brimer ...
25/09/2026

Ever since we started using candles at our Omahu vineyard to protect our precious vines from Jack Frost, Richard Brimer Photographer has been plotting to photograph the beauty from above.

On Friday morning his wish came true and he captured this absolutely beautiful shot. Hawke’s Bay Today were so intrigued when it popped up on the feed, they had a chat with National Viticulturist Nick Paulin to understand more about frost candles and why they work so well for our small vineyard in the Gimblett Gravels. Check out the link below for all the details.

Huge shout out to our team at Omahu - Mark , Jaz and Jason who have faced 10 mornings of frost alarms in the past 15 days. A huge effort to get through this cold stretch - thank you for your mahi legends 🙏

Hawke's Bay Today
Gimblett Gravels
Hawke’s Bay W**e
New Zealand W**e

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/hawkes-bay-vineyard-lit-up-with-600-candles-no-its-not-an-art-show/IQVFISDW5JEDNL3ZTJSDBIZJ2A/

23/09/2026

Burgundy has an opposite. It may also have an equal.

Over the past two months, we’ve been putting a big idea to the test.

Ten 2024 Chardonnays from our Smith & Sheth and Pyramid Valley portfolio alongside some of Burgundy’s finest. Tasted blind by 43 leading w**e minds in Christchurch, London and the Côte-d’Or.

We called it Opposites < > Attract.

The final results are in. And they’ve given us - and our guests - quite a bit to talk about.

Steve joined Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB this morning to share some of what we found.

Listen to the full interview at the link in bio + stories. More incoming…

Sauvignon Blanc - Bold, expressive, and known for putting NZ w**e on the map… but it's not for everyone. Allow us to int...
01/05/2026

Sauvignon Blanc - Bold, expressive, and known for putting NZ w**e on the map… but it's not for everyone. Allow us to introduce a Sauvignon Blanc for the non-Sauv drinkers.

Our 2023 Smith & Sheth CRU Wairau Sauvignon Blanc offers a more refined expression. Think pure fruit, a beautiful mineral streak and softer balanced acidity without the overt pungency. Crafted from mature vines in Renwick and the Wairau Valley, and partially fermented in oak fuders, for texture and harmony, this is a Sauvignon Blanc with elegance and restraint.

As Bob Campbell puts it, “𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘚𝘢𝘶𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭.”

Happy International Sauvignon Blanc Day! And if you’re on the fence about Sauvignon Blanc, we challenge you to give ours a try and see if you can be swayed to the Sauvy side of life 😉

Address

2 The Courtyard, Village Exchange, 4 Te Aute Road
Havelock North
4130

Opening Hours

Tuesday 12pm - 9pm
Wednesday 12pm - 9pm
Thursday 12pm - 9pm
Friday 12pm - 9pm
Saturday 12pm - 9pm

Telephone

+6466505550

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