Hawke's Bay

Organically farmed Pinot Noir and Syrah from Martinborough and Bridge Pa.

A savoury, crunchy, whole bunch offering sitting at a Pinot Noir weight with flavours that are firmly Syrah

Vineyard:
The Pinot Noir comes from the excellent Grava vineyard which is certified
organic, farmed by Alistair and Karla. The vines are grown on the terraces of
the Ruamahanga river providing alluvial deposits making silt loam soils.

The Syrah comes from the prestigious Bridge Pa Triangle and is also farmed
organically. These soils are free-draining red metal soil, overlaid by alluvium-derived loess, volcanic ash, and greywacke, a composite left behind by the Ngaruroro River that once flowed through the valley thousands of years earlier.

Winemaking:
The Pinot was hand picked and destemmed to a fermenter that was 2 days later topped with hand picked whole bunch syrah. Gentle cap management during fermentation and lightly pressed off of skins 10 days later. The wine was left
to age in seasoned french barrels and undergo malolactic fermentation for 7
months. Racked to tank, the LDR is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Tasting Notes:
A light savoury style wine with aromas of tamarillo, redcurrants and whole
bunch stemminess. Undertones of cherries, spice and crunchy woody herbs add to
feel that the wine is equal parts savoury and vibrantly fresh.

Technical Notes:
pH 3.79, Titratable acidity 5.4g/L, Residual sugar- dry

Ash Ridge Wines is located in Hawke's Bay and is a family owned winery established in 2005 by Chris and Sonya Wilcock.

This gem from the stunning 2020 vintage has a savoury, gamey bouquet packed with meaty nuances, black pepper, herb, dark plum and blackberry. The palate is rich with dark fruit and savoury details thanks to a supple tannin framework and balanced acidity.

Matahiwi winemaker Miles Dineen is a dab hand at Syrah. He uses grapes from the sunny Hawke's Bay to produce this outstanding expression of spicy, ripe plum flavours from the gorgeous Syrah grape. 

This wine is top value for money from one of the great Syrah winemakers in this country; it is one of his favourite grapes and we're sure this wine will be too - try it. 

Te Mata Tasting Note

Coleraine '22 harnesses the energy and complexity of Te Mata cabernet sauvignon, on show at its highest level since the first Coleraine in 1982.

The beautiful floral aromas of lavender, violet, plum and blackcurrant, are all in orbit around the wine?s dark savoury core of tightly wound graphite, nori, coffee grounds, vanilla and tobacco.  The palate is intensely concentrated, with a superbright tension building freshness and precision as layer upon layer of fine polished tannins give pinpoint detail alongside signature, exacting, levels of finesse.

Coleraine '22 is a modern reprise of what makes Coleraine iconic, a wine balancing past and future, heritage and innovation. This is a statement wine, one that lingers both on the palate and in the mind.

Hieronymus is a blend of grapes and of vineyards and is composed of 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec and 8% Tempranillo with 58% from the Gimblett Gimblett and 42% from the Bridge Pa Triangle.

Grapes were harvested in three separate hand picked lots and fermented separately in oak cuves, then drained to barrel without pressing. The wine was aged for 26 months in 50% new French oak.

The wine's name pays homage to an ancestor of the winery's owners, the Weiss family.

VINEYARDS 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. 

WINEMAKING 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. 

SENSORY 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.

Winemakers Notes
With this being such a popular varietal these days, we were asked by our local distributor to produce one. As it turns out places like Japan and Canada are also hopping on this fresher, aromatic style. I fermented half in stainless steel tank with a selected organic yeast and the other half as wild ferments in 2 large puncheons. This provided both precision and funkiness making for a really unique expression of this grape.

Vineyard
Hawke's Bay is located on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The region enjoys dry summers with moderate, cool nights. This wine reflects a single vineyard Pinot Gris which was grown in the Eskdale Appellation of Hawke's Bay. The vineyard lies along the Esk River Valley about 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the mouth that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The soils are a combination of silt and loam deposited from the river and heavier deposits at the foot of the Esk Valley Hills. The vineyard has begun its journey into organic farming with no weed sprays and the use of an under- vine mower.

Winemaking
This Pinot Gris was harvested with an average harvest Brix of 20.5 and picked with a fresh acidity to give the finished wine some finesse and keep the alcohol in balance.

We chose to machine harvest the fruit to give the juice time to soak freely on skins for about 6 hours before we pressed. The free-run juice and light pressings were fermented in stainless steel using an organic inoculated yeast and fermented slow and cool to relative dryness. The pressings went into 10 year old French puncheons (500 liter oak) where they fermented wild each with their own hint of sweetness and character left behind.

One of our favourite wine importers created this tasty, dry, full bodied red from Hawke?s Bay Syrah with the help of talented winemakers. This is a spicy, deep purple, juicy take on the second most planted red in the Bay; Syrah. This wine drinks well now and can age further; try cellaring a couple of bottles for at least five to six years.

Mission Estate Jewelstone Chardonnay is a pale straw coloured wine with complex aromatics of sweet stone fruit, marzipan and struck flint notes. The palate is full and fruit forward with a fine structure and a long clean finish.