• Dry style
• Rock melon
• Toasted Manuka wood
• Cinnamon & apple crumble

"This is pristine and elegant, showing white flesh peach, fresh pear, white floral and lemon zest aromas on the nose, leading to a finely focused palate displaying bright fruit flavours backed by mouth-watering acidity. Beautifully composed and linear. At its best: now to 2022" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Nov 2020

From grapes of naturally low yielding, 23-year-old vines, winemakers have created a wine full of flavour, depth, body and vitality. The aromatics burst from the glass; fresh rock melon, lime, toasted Manuka wood, cinnamon and apple crumble. Before pressing, the grapes were soaked on their skins extracting beautiful grapefruit pithy phenolics, forming the basis of a sure-footed palate. The mineral texture gestures to the river stones and fossilised shells that the vines grow on. Dry in style, this wine is an honest expression of the vineyard and the growing season of 2019 in this appellation.

The carefully selected, estate owned site benefits from naturally terraced land, which leads down to the Awatere River. The region is blessed with low rainfall and low vigour soils, predominantly formed from alluvial gravel, which lends remarkable texture and minerality to our wines. The vines are densely planted which causes inter-vine competition, resulting in low yields of top quality fruit.

The grapes were harvested at night and brought straight into the winery. The fruit was pressed after a period of soaking the grape skins with its juice. This juice was fermented to dryness at cool temperatures using neutral yeast, allowing the varietal fruit flavours and concentration to be fully expressed. The wine was left to develop on light yeast lees for five months, and as a result, has developed lovely brioche characters on the palate. No fining was needed on this wine, which allows the phenolic structure to be articulated. The wine was bottled and rested for 9 months before being released.

Cable Bay Vineyards is dedicated to producing handcrafted wines known for their elegance and depth. Taking an Old World approach and combining it with New World techniques, Cable Bay’s vibrant wines are beautifully expressive of the sites upon which they were grown. All of Cable Bay’s vineyards are accredited with SWNZ (Sustainable Wine Growing New Zealand).

Food Pairing: Prawns and Summer salads.