"From their Mere Road Vineyard in the Gimblett Gravels district, the wine shows lovely fruit purity and vibrancy, displaying dark plum, blueberry, floral and toasted hazelnut characters on the nose, followed by a juicy palate that is flavoursome and rounded. Well proportioned and charming with plenty of attractive fruit flavours. At its best: now to 2021" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Dec 2017

This is a rich and complex Hawke’s Bay Merlot. The oak is in balance and respects the wine’s structure and character. There is nice intensity on the front palate with very good tannins that are quite firm at bottling, but which will soften with time. The wine is harmonious, showing balance and softness.

This Merlot was selected from two blocks on our vineyard on Mere Road. Extensive fruit thinning was applied to the vines prior to veraison. This ensured mature grapes.

The fermentations were managed with minimal pump overs to avoid over-extracting the grapes. When the fermentations were complete there followed a period of post fermentation maceration to develop the mouth feel of the young wines. After pressing the wines underwent MLF in tank before transfer to French oak barrels for maturation. After maturation for 12 months the wine was tasted and blended before assembly then fined with egg whites.