This three vineyard blend (Triangle / Te Awanga / Gimblett) is co-fermented with 1% Viognier (a bitch to grow in these parts) with 15% whole bunch (for structure), 19 months in only 25% new oak and an additional 6 months in tank on its own lees. The resulting wine is a beauty with lifted fruit and floral notes: blueberry, raspberry and some minerality, plus good tannins, smoky-vanilla and sweet black pepper, which runs from opening (on the nose) to closing (on the finish) – it’s far from what you’d get in OZ, it’s very New Zealand, as it should be.
Rating: **** ½