• French oak
• Red & black fruit
• Lead & incense
• Medium bodied

"A blend of cabernet franc, merlot, petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon. Bold, intense and youthful wine with strong cherry and berry, plum, dried fruits, spices, liquorice, dark chocolate and cedar flavours. Impressive now but with obvious cellaring potential" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Aug 2021

The Ironclad 2018 is predominantly Cabernet Franc and Merlot supported by Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose is a mixture of red and black fruit with pencil lead and sous-bois and a hint of incense. The palate is medium bodied with a ferrous grip that knots together with some excellent acidity. The flavours are more of the black fruit with some attractive herbal notes highlighting the Cabernet Franc.

A red Bordeux blend of 36% Cabernet Franc, 34% Merlot, 17% Petit Verdot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Malbec grown on Waiheke Island. 

Vintage 2018 began with a settled and dry Spring resulting in great flowering and a corresponding excellent fruit set. We then enjoyed a relatively hot summer although there were intense periods of rainfall thanks to ex Tropical Cyclone Fehi and Gita which put the pressure on during harvest time. Temperatures remained warm into the harvest months increasing humidity however with careful attention to detail in the vineyard we were rewarded with excellent fruit.

Components for the Ironclad come from an array of steep hillside vineyards each planted in one of the five traditional varieties of Bordeaux. After careful hand harvesting the fruit is delivered to the winery and then put across a sorting table before being 100% de-stemmed and delivered to open vats for fermentation. All of our red ferments undergo fermentation with wild yeasts with pump overs being carried out twice daily. Following an extended time on skins (average 35days in vat) the wines are gently pressed and taken straight to barrel for natural malolactic fermentation in the spring. The wines are racked once to a blend after 18 months before further maturing in tank for 3 months prior to bottling.