• French oak
• Dark spices & berries
• Clean finish
• Fine tannins

The nose is dense with brooding violets, dark spices, wet stone with hints of tobacco, all spice, cloves and brambleberries. The front palate is soft and lush rising to a firm acidity yet fine tannins in the mid-palate. The wine finish clean and fresh with lingering stony tannins hints of plum and sweet fruit notes.

Hawke’s Bay lies on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The region enjoys dry summers with moderate, cool nights. This wine reflects a single vineyard Malbec dominant blend 80% with 20% Merlot which was grown organically on the famous Gimblett Gravels appellation. The Gimblett Gravels is marked by specific soils laid bare from the constantly shifting Ngaruroro River over millions of years. The river’s last shift in 1867 left these amazing rocky soils, which combined with the slightly inland Heretaunga Plains’ weather, and classic viticulture techniques created a uniquely expressive Malbec

This certified organic site can ripen quite late compared to other site on the Gimblett Gravels, resulting in dense, darker fruit. Hand-picked in late April and transported in whole bunches from the vineyard to the close-by winery in small baskets. The fruit was then destemmed and only lightly crushed to allow the skins to slowly breakdown during the fermentation. Some of the fermenters were a co-ferment of Malbec/Merlot. The fruit was then cold macerated for 5 days on skins before slowly warming each of the small fermenters and allowing a wild fermentation to kick in. Fermentation lasted 17 days before the wine was then macerated on skinsagain for an additional 19 days. The wine was then pressed to tank before it was put to a French oak barriques, 20% of which were new barrels. The wine was racked and blended after 24 months in oak and remained it tank for an additional 4 months before bottling in November of 2020.