Winemaker Notes
This wine is made from a blend of grapes grown in the Gimblett Gravels sub-region of Hawkes Bay. These free-draining shingle soils have excellent drainage and low vigor. Our vineyard sites are close planted and yields per vine are kept low to maximize fruit quality.
This is a full-bodied and rich Gimblett Gravels blend, densely colored and exhibiting a bouquet of plums, red fruits, dried herbs and hints of oak. The palate is soft and generous in nature, making it easy to enjoy as a young wine; however, well-ripened tannins suggest it has the potential to age exceptionally well.
Enjoy with most meat and game dishes, but especially lamb.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There’s a fresh and juicy feel here with rich dark berries and poached plums that flow on a gently spicy thread to the palate, which has plenty of plum and berry flesh and a polished, mid-weight tannin frame. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is classic Gimblett Gravels—with Merlot leading the way—at a bargain price. Notes of ripe blackberries, currents, warm earth, ground black pepper and dried savory herbs with some oaky tones can be found on both the nose and the palate. It’s full bodied and generously fruited, wound with a dusty thread of earthy tannins and a herbal finish. Drink now, with a rare steak or throughout the next decade.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An eclectic region on the east coast of the North Island, Hawkes Bay extends from wide, fertile, coastal plains, inland, to the coast range, whose peaks reach as high as 5,300 feet. While the flatter areas were historically more popular because they are easier to cultivate, their alluvial soils can be too fertile for vines. In the late 20th century, the drive for quality led growers to the hills where soils are free-draining, limestone-rich and more suited to producing high quality wines.
Over the passing of time, the old Ngaruroro River laid down deep, gravelly beds, which were subsequently exposed after a huge flood in the 1860’s. In the 1980s growers identified this stretch, which continues for approximately 800 ha, and named it the Gimblett Gravels. The zone has proven to be ideal for the production of excellent red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
Today the area takes well-earned recognition for its Bordeaux blends and other reds. Expressive of intense stewed red and black berry with gentle herbaceous characters, Gimblett Gravels wines are suggestive of their cool climate origin, and on par with other top-notch Bordeaux blends around the globe.
Chardonnay is the top white grape in Hawkes Bay, making elegant wines, strong in stone fruit character. Sauvignon blanc comes in close behind, notable for its tropical, fruit forward qualities.