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This, the second 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.
The high proportion of Merlot ensures a rich, soft but concentrated wine from an excellent vintage.
Merlot 83%, Cabernet Sauvignon 17%. 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.
2004 ended up being a good season in Hawkes Bay. A damp late spring / early summer meant that the vine canopies were very healthy coming into the main ripening period. A warm, dry autumn allowed us to hang the grapes on in good condition until they were physiologically ripe. It could have been a very difficult year if it weren't for the famous Hawkes Bay Indian Summer which saved the harvest in similar fashion to the great 2002 vintage.
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 20 months oak aging and bottled in December 2005, with minimal filtration.
Deep ruby red.
Chocolate and red berry fruit. Blackberry, cassis and mocha characters dominate the aromas.
Soft, textural tannins linger, along with the background of red fruits and mocha-coffee, on the palate.
Richly flavoured red meat dishes.
2008 - 2015
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