Esk Valley River Gravel Merlot Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Rich aromas of black fruit and fragrant spicy oak dominate this sumptuous red wine. The palate is full-bodied with incredible concentration of supple, rich ripe fruit, smooth ripe tannins, beautifully integrated oak and great complexity.

This wine is a blend from grapes grown on the stony soils of the Gimblett Gravels. The vines in the Ngakirikiri, Twyford and Omahu Gravels vineyards are now approaching 20 years of age and are cropped at low levels to produce grapes of the highest possible quality.

The individual vineyard parcels were harvested separately and destemmed to our open topped concrete fermenters for fermentation. Indigenous and selected red wine yeast strains were employed and once active the ferments were gently hand plunged up to four times daily. After a period of post fermentation maceration the ferments were pressed to barrel and tank for malolactic fermentation. The wine was then aged for 16 months in French oak barriques (45% new) before bottling.