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Harvest Detail:
100% hand picked:
Cabernet Sauvignon 28/3- 23/4/2002
Cabernet Franc 18-22/3/2002
Merlot 11/3-12/4/2002
Brix 22.7° to 25.3°
Total acidity 6.2 g/l to 8.6 g/l
pH 3.2 to 3.52
Bottling Detail:
13.5% alcohol
5.3 g/l acidity
3.80 pH
Bottled February 2004
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
Richly flavoured red meat dishes.
2005-2009. May throw some sediment during aging: decanting is recommended. |
Elegant, powerful and concentrated, this wine further confirms the enormous potential of the Gimblett Gravels region of Hawkes Bay to produce world class Bordeaux-style red wines.
Cabernet Sauvignon 62%, Merlot 28% and Cabernet Franc 10%
Hatton Estate 32%, Gimblett Estate 53%, Stockbridge 12% and Blake Family 3%. All four vineyards are situated in the Gimblett Road area, adjacent to each other.
Soils consist of river shingle, deposited by the Ngaruroro River. These soils are extremely free draining and of low fertility, growing low vigour vines producing small crops of intensely coloured and flavoured grapes.
2002 was one of the great vintages in the Gimblett Gravels area due to a fantastic warm, dry Autumn after a temperate summer caused anxiety. Harvest timing was later and more leisurely than normal with all grapes for this wine picked by the 23rd of April. We were able to take our time and pick each parcel of fruit when it reached the optimum ripeness level, a luxury we don’t often have.
Hand picked fruit was gently destemmed without crushing into closed top tanks for fermentation. Each variety and vineyard was harvested and vinified separately. Pumping over with controlled aeration took place over the fermentation period to extract colour and tannin as gently as possible. A post-fermentation maceration of the wine with the skins took place for a further three weeks or so to soften the texture and structure of the tannins. Daily tasting determined the optimum time to press the skins. The whole vinification process was tailored to make the tannins accessible. After a brief settling period to clarify the wine, it was put into small oak barrels, predominantly French, of which 40% were new. Regular three-monthly racking followed to clarify the wines. After around twenty two months in barrel, the individual components were assessed and blended. The resulting blend was bottled in February 2004 with gelatin fining and light filtration.
Superb deep ruby.
Cassis from ripe Cabernet Sauvignon, mulberry and plum from Merlot and the perfume and red currant of Cabernet Franc.
Secondary characters such as cedar, tobacco, spice, leather and licorice derived from barrel aging add to fine tannins and the fruit flavours of cassis, plum and red currant These will develop further with more bottle age.
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