Villa Maria Black Reserve Gimblett Gravels Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot 750ml

This densely coloured wine shows lovely aromatics with layers of red and black plum, mingling with cassis, smoky roast coffee bean, dried thyme and complex cedary spice nuances. The palate is soft yet concentrated, with wonderfully fine-grained tannins and integrated oak. While approachable in its youth, this wine will benefit and gain additional complexity from careful cellaring over the next 10-15 years.

After quite a cool start to the season, Growing Degree Days finished above the long-term average, with intermittent rainfall throughout the season providing healthy vine canopies. Mid-March and early April rainfall presented challenges to Winemakers and the focus became pushing ripening as far as possible without losing fruit condition. Late ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, with its thick skins and naturally loose bunches, maintained excellent condition and the free draining gravel sites came to the fore with ripe clean fruit available for this wine.

The fruit for this wine was grown entirely on the gravelly soils of the Gimblett Gravels growing region in Hawkes Bay. The vineyard contributes small parcels of exceptional fruit, with its own unique characteristics. The free draining soils of the site helps to ensure balanced fruit and canopy growth which is essential for ripe flavours and tannin development. Yields are cropped low allowing vines to produce fruit that is richly concentrated in colour, flavour and structure.