"excellent weight and length"
COLOUR: Deep red with purple hues.
NOSE: A rich and complex bouquet, showing ripe plum and mulberry notes, with hints of spice.
PALATE: A wine of excellent weight and length, with intense ripe plum and blackberry flavours, and soft tannins.
FOOD MATCH: An ideal partner for roast meats, casseroles and richly flavoured pasta dishes.
VINIFICATION. A hot summer and dry weather throughout autumn produced ideal conditions for ripening red grapes in Hawke’s Bay. The Merlot was harvested at low acidity and with excellent ripeness. Fruit was destemmed but not crushed, and fermented on skins in a mixture of open top and closed vessels using cultured yeast strains. Fermentation took place over an average 18 days at temperatures up to 30 deg Celsius. Maturation was predominantly in stainless steel tanks, with a portion matured in oak.