Merlot Cabernet 2018

96/100 ★★★★★

Deepish red colour with a good purple tint and a spicy berry bouquet: floral, ripely perfumed and very appealing. The wine is soft and fleshy, round and supple, with generous flavour and elegant styling. The tannins are silky-smooth and beautifully ripe. A quite delicious wine that drinks superbly now but should also cellar well for several years.

- Huon Hooke, The Real Review Australia

94/100 ★★★★★

Delicately aromatic and seamless red with floral, violet, blackcurrant bud, fresh herbs, raspberry, and spicy flavours. A backbone of fine, drying tannins suggests cellaring potential.

- Bob Campbell, The Real Review

94/100 ★★★★★

A lovely balance between the merlot's plum and its velvet softness, the power of the cabernet with a core of blackberry - both combined with scents of some cigar/tobacco and toast notes. On the palate flavours reflect the nose with a seamless transition to texture, firm tannins, ripe tannins and supple moments. Medium+ acidity. A complete wine with some powerful youthful textures and a core of fruit, violets and plums, blackberries and spices.

- Cameron Douglas, MS

Parcels of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were hand-picked from selected sites on the gravel soils of the old Ngaruroro River, and old vine Merlot from the Bridge Pa region. Bridge Pa Triangle soils feature fine silt loam over red metal gravels, while the gravel sites protected by Roys Hill, feature gravel over fine silt. These sites are free draining and low in fertility, resulting in struggling vines producing fruit of great concentration. Low yielding vines, open canopy management, managed irrigation and Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand farmed were common to all sites. Bridge Pa Merlot delivers ripe, dark plums which compliments the spicy brighter fruits from the gravels. Cabernet thrives on gravel sites and contributes structure, acidity, and fragrant berry fruit notes.

Batches of hand harvested fruit was chilled overnight before processing the following day. Chilled bunches were hand sorted and de-stemmed, and whole berries were transferred to open fermenters with some foot stomping. Whole bunches were also incorporated in some of the Merlot fermenters. The berries were cold soaked before fermentation, with pumping over twice per day then pressed to barriques at the end of fermentation. The Merlot and Cabernet matured for 21 months in new and seasoned French oak barriques. Blended in December 2019 and bottled in January 2020, the final blend is approximately 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon.

An elegant Merlot Cabernet blend which exhibits lifted aromatics of fragrant berry fruits, sweet French oak, and underlying lavender and thyme. Complex and textural, seamless tannins harmoniously support red and black fruits, earthiness, and spice.

Tautly poised to develop beautifully with bottle age.

Alcohol: 13.5% Total acidity: 5.8 g/l