Halcyon Days
2023 Halcyon Days Friends Indeed
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$63.00
Description
WINEMAKER: Amy Hopksinson-Styles & Olly Styles
REGION: Hawke’s Bay, NZ
VARIETY: Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Certified Organic
Stylistically between a rosé and an orange wine. Friends indeed is a cyclone wine and a one off from 2023.
After the cyclone we weren’t sure if we would have any grapes from Hawke’s Bay other than the Osawa Chardonnay. We called our good friends Al and Karl at Grava vineyard in Martinborough and asked if they had any spare organic fruit and they offered us some 115 Pinot Noir. Olly drove our little vintage truck down and helped Al and the crew handpick the Pinot then drove it straight back to be whole bunch pressed and naturally fermented as a pale rose. The Pinot Noir has beautiful bright red fruit and a lovely energetic acidity.
After natural MLF it aged on lees till we blended it with some Sangiovese Rose and skin fermented Chardonnay to give it structure and texture. An East coast version of our Heliacal Rise with a bit more power and orange hue. The blend is 82% Pinot Noir from the beautiful Grava vineyard Martinborough Wairarapa, 10% Sangiovese and 8% Chardonnay from Osawa vineyard Mangatahi Hawke’s Bay. Both vineyards are BioGro certified organic.
Halcyon Days was born in 2018 in Hawke’s Bay after the meeting of Amy Hopksinson-Styles and Olly Styles.
Deeply enthusiastic about organic agriculture and healthy produce, Amy grew up on the land in regional NZ and has an uncle in Hawke's Bay who is a winemaker. At the age of 23, and straight out of her winemaking degree, Amy was offered a position to establish a brand new winery in Castilla-Leon for American company Jorge Ordonez Selections. It was a dream opportunity, so Amy moved to Spain, built a brand new winery in the tiny, remote village of Villanueva de Campean and set about sourcing fruit from the pre-phylloxera tempranillo vineyards the area is famous for.
Olly Styles is a wine writer who grew up in Oxfordshire and has also completed a winemaking degree. He and Amy met in London and the pair returned from Spain to live in New Zealand in early 2012. They now live in Hawke's Bay and have two wonderful boys.
2023 Halcyon Days Friends Indeed
$63.00
SPÖN PICKS
SPÖN Bottle Shop & Wine Bar: Made for Discovery
A 50-seater wine bar; Inspired by the charming, drink-in bottle shops hidden throughout the cobblestone streets of Europe, explore a rotating world of natural, organic, rare & vintage wines, and craft beers sourced from Australia and across the globe.
Born in Newtown
Nestled in the vibrant heart of Newtown – We created SPÖN as a cozy neighbourhood bottle shop and wine bar that feels relaxed, welcoming and distinctly its own. Creative, a little gritty, a little playful and always full of something new & unexpected — just like Newtown.
A bottle shop with a bar problem.
SPÖN - a discovery-led hybrid bottle-shop/Wine bar experience. Browse the shelves, grab a bottle and drink it at the bar — or pull up a stool and explore a daily rotating board of over 15+ distinct wines being poured by the glass. SPÖN is built around drinking what interests you.
Come curious. Leave with a new favourite.
We don’t tell you what to drink. You don’t need to know your varietals, regions or vintages, and you certainly don’t need to pretend you do. Tell us what you like, hate, what you’ve tried or curious about — we’ll take it from there. Sometimes the best bottle is the one you didn’t know you wanted.