• French oak
• Blackberries
• Sweet tar & tobacco
• Firm, supple tannins

Deep purple colour. The nose jumps with dark violets and blackberries. Hints of sweet tar, smokey tamarillo, black licorice, and cinnamon. The palate is rich upfront with a lush drive throughout. The tannins are firm but giving with a supple mouthfeel. Flavours of chocolate, grainy berry and tobacco linger. 

Hawke's Bay lies on the East Coast on the North Island of New Zealand. The region enjoys dry summers with moderate, cool nights. This wine reflects a single vineyard Malbec which was grown in the famous Gimblett Gravels apellation. The Gimblett Gravels is demarked 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 Malbec was grown on BioGrow Certified Organic vineyard.

The 2018-19 season was a bit wet in the spring and then a relatively warm and dry summer was followed by a late spike in heat in March and April, leading to dark, intense fruit. However, this vineyard is relatively late ripening to others in the Gimblett Gravels district.

Hand-picked in early 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. The fruit was then cold macerated for 5 days on skins before slowly warming each of the 2-ton fermenters and allowing a wild fermentation to kick in. Fermentation lasted 17 days before the wine was then macerated on skins again for an additional 18 days. The wine was then pressed to tank before put into mostly neutral French oak puncheons (500-liter barrels) and with a small portion in neutral oak barriques and one new oak barrel (5%). The wine was aged for 21 months in barrel and then racked and prepared for bottling in late March 2021.