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Harvest Detail:
100% hand picked
28/3 - 19/4/2002
Brix 25.0°-25.3°
Total acidity 6.2 - 8.3 g/l
pH 3.38 - 3.45
Bottling Detail:
13.8% alcohol
5.9 g/l acidity
3.73 pH
Bottled August 2004
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This, the first vintage of our super-premium wines, pays homage to the great potential of the Gimblett Gravels of Hawkes Bay to produce Bordeaux-style wine of outstanding quality.
Merlot 50%, Cabernet Sauvignon 35% and Syrah 15% The fruit came from vines planted in 1994. The fruit was thinned to give a crop level of around 1 tonne per acre (approx 20 Hectolitres per Hectare).
Gimblett Estate - the vineyard is situated in the Gimblett Road area of the Gimblett Gravels sub-region of Hawkes Bay.
2002 was one of the great vintages in the Gimblett Gravels area due to a fantastic warm, dry Autumn after a temperate summer had caused anxiety. Harvest timing was later and more leisurely than normal with grapes for this wine picked on .
The handpicked grapes were hand-sorted, then gently destemmed without crushing leaving a large portion of uncrushed berries. Fermentation took place in an open top stainless steel fermenter and the cap was hand plunged four times daily for optimum color and tannin extraction. A 3-week post- fermentation maceration helped complex the tannins. The wine was subsequently aged in new French oak barriques. Malolactic fermentation took place in tank before going to barrel. Regular racking for clarification took place in during aging in barrel. The wine was blended after 26 months oak aging and bottled in August 2004, without fining or filtration.
Richly flavoured red meat dishes.
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