Esk Valley Artisanal Gimblett Gravels Hawke's Bay Malbec Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Esk Valley Artisanal Gimblett Gravels Hawke's Bay Malbec Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2020French oak Rich plummy fruit Dried herbs Soft tannins "Offering excellent fruit purity and fragrance, the wine shows blackberry, blueberry, violet, olive and subtle cedar notes, leading a succulent palate that's elegantly weighted and supple. Fruit expressive and attractively complex with a fine dry finish. At its best: now to 2027" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2022 This is a very deeply coloured wine as you would expect from a Malbec based wine. It

• French oak
• Rich plummy fruit
• Dried herbs
• Soft tannins

"Offering excellent fruit purity and fragrance, the wine shows blackberry, blueberry, violet, olive and subtle cedar notes, leading a succulent palate that's elegantly weighted and supple. Fruit expressive and attractively complex with a fine dry finish. At its best: now to 2027" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2022

This is a very deeply coloured wine as you would expect from a Malbec based wine. It displays rich plummy, jammy Gimblett Gravels fruit on the nose with hints of tobacco and dried herbs. On the palate it is a medley of power and concentration from Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon allied with softer Merlot tannins.

The fruit for this wine was grown within the confines of the renown Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District. These deep stony soils deposited by the Ngaruroro River have excellent drainage and low vigour and are ideally suited to the production of high quality red wine. Our vineyard sites are close planted with low yields per vine to maximise quality. The 2020 harvest conditions were ideal and the vintage is highly regarded.

The individual vineyard and varietal parcels were harvested separately and fermented with wild yeast in our open topped concrete fermenters. Hand plunging was employed to gently extract colour and tannin. After a period of post fermentation maceration the individual parcels were pressed to french oak barrels and aged in cool cellars for 18 months, before blending in January 2022.

Food Pairing: This is a full bodied and complex wine, and an ideal accompaniment to red meat dishes.