Esk Valley Hawke's Bay Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec 2025

Description

Herbal, Oak, Raspberry

"Splendidly fruited and fragrant with black/blueberry, violet, dried herb, and toasted nut aromas on the nose, followed by a fruit-expressive palate filled with succulent flavours. It's beautifully structured, with a silky texture and grainy tannins, finishing long and robust. At its best: now to 2035" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2026

This is a smooth and fruit orientated Gimblett Gravels blend. Vibrant purple in colour, it has a bouquet of dark berries and Christmas cake spice, with subtle hints of pencil shavings from a period of barrel maturation. With vibrant fruit flavours, this wine is soft and generous in nature and can be enjoyed either as a youthful wine or with several years of cellaring to gain complexity.

This wine was blended from grapes grown within the renowned Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District. These deep stony soils have excellent drainage and low vigour, ideal for the production of high-quality red wine. Our vineyard sites are close planted and yields per vine are kept low to maximise quality. 2025 was an excellent vintage in Hawke's Bay with a warm summer resulting in a wine that is generous and plush with easy drinkability.

The individual vineyard and varietal parcels were destemmed to our concrete and stainless steel fermenters for fermentation. Once active, the ferments were hand plunged or gently pumped over to extract tannin and colour from the skins. After a period of maceration on skins the new wines were pressed to barrel and tank for malolactic fermentation and subsequent ageing. After 12 months of maturation, the wine was blended and bottled.

Food Pairing: Try with red meat and game, or with baked Mediterranean vegetable dishes.