• Subtle oak
• Earthiness
• Rich fruit
• Fine tannins

"Youthfully charming and brightly fragrant, the bouquet shows sweet cherry, floral, almond and olive notes, leading to an elegantly weighted palate that's juicy and silky-smooth. Beautifully rounded and lingering with succulent flavours. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2022

"Bright, fresh, lifted, fruity, varietal and new. Aromas and flavours of fresh red cherry and apple skin, some light red plum scents along with cranberry and red rose. Lightweight, crisp, refreshing and dry with flavours that reflect the bouquet, fine fruit tannins and crunchy refreshing acidity. Balanced, well made and ready to drink. IDeal drinking window is from late 2022 through 2026" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Mar 2022

Rich garnet with bright red hues. An attractive earthiness with subtle barnyard notes and a touch of spice. Silky smooth but generous inky fruit richness on the palate and a layered texture with fine tannins.

Fruit for this blend was sourced from the Upper Wairau Valley and the Omaka Valley with a small component from the Awatere Valley.

Despite the very dry conditions in 2020, vines fared far better than the summer of 2019, when a similarly low amount of rain fell in January and February. This season was drier for longer than the previous year, with just 43mm of rain between December 21 and April 21, compared to 185mm in a normal year – do we have those anymore? March with slightly cooler than average, but with warmer days and cool nights and almost no rainfall the growing season with slightly longer, and the temperature was cooler toward the end, which meant fruit had a fuller flavour. This was good news for grape growers, because it allowed fruit to ripen in ideal conditions without any disease pressure from botrytis bunch rot. Unlike 2019, the lower night temperatures of the 2020 vintage helped to retain acids – cool autumn nights are part of the magic of a Marlborough vintage (unless you’re on nightshift!).

Predominantly machine harvested, the fruit was transferred to open top fermenters ranging in size from 5T to 10T. These were held cold for an average of 5 days to extract colour and flavour from the skins. The fruit was then warmed and yeast added to some tanks while spontaneous wild ferment encouraged in others. Once fermenting well, the cooling was opened to hold the temperature to a maximum of 32°C. The cap was plunged up to twice per day during peak fermentation. After 5 to 7 days the ferments were dry and the wine was drained off skins and the skins pressed with pressings recombined. The wine was left in tank for 48 hours then racked to barrel where it underwent malo-lactic fermentation and matured for approximately 9 months before blending. The wine was cold stabilised before final crossflow filtration to prepare for bottling.

Food Pairing: Exquisitely matched with venison cutlets topped with glazed cherries.