Winemaker Notes
Blend: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There's an element of expertise to this wine in the form of slick new-French-oak polish and handy freshness. Distinctive leafy aromas abound, as do gravely nuances and tinges of violets, blueberries, blue cherries and cassis. A class act. The palate has layers of fine, dense and ripe tannins saturated in dark-cherry, cassis and blueberry flavors. The acidity is pitch-perfect, too. This is a stylish modern cabernet that could compete with the best from any continent. Best from 2020-2030+.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Coleraine Cabernet / Merlot was a finished blend, just needing to be fined and bottled in January 2016. Deep garnet-purple, it has a forward nose of pronounced cassis, black pepper, earth, violets, pencil lead and bay leaves plus a waft of cedar. Very elegant, medium-bodied, well-structured and fine, it lacks the lovely freshness of the 2013 but offers plenty of expression at this early stage.
Range: 92-93
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.