Gold Medal - AIR NZ Wine Awards 2017 (2016 vintage)

60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec 

Top notch Cab blend from a great producer AND a great vintage.

Commercial description
"Bordeaux winemaking practices are combined with methods that enhance the best of our Hawke’s Bay terroir. After extended skin contact the wine was pressed off to complete malolactic fermentation in barrel, 30% new, 100% French oak. Barrels were kept separate during maturation to give greatest blending possibilities, both from vineyard batches as well as oak influences. Final maturation time in oak was 24 months. The wine was then carefully blended to tank and bottled with minimal intervention

Already very approachable and will develop gracefully for many years. Cellaring will further soften the tannin while increasing integration of oak flavours with added layers of complexity from bottle age. 10 years + potential. A complex aroma of berry fruits, cassis, cedar, and crushed graphite. Sweet, rounded flavours of blackberry and currants, mocha, and savoury olive notes are complimented by fine oak tannin. This wine shows a silken texture and firm structure. Cabernet Sauvignon dominant with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec this is a very elegant rich wine, showing lovely delicacy and depth."