Esk Valley Artisanal Malbec Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Blended ‘Bordeaux-style’ red wines have long been a speciality of Esk Valley and winemaker Gordon Russell who has this down to a fine art whilst letting nature run its course. Made in a very traditional manner and of course in Esk Valley’s iconic, open-topped concrete fermenters.

The fruit for this wine was grown within the confines of the renown Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District. These deep stony soils deposited by the Ngaruroro River have excellent drainage and low vigour and are ideally suited to the production of high quality red wine. Our vineyard sites are close planted with low yields per vine to maximise quality. The 2019 harvest conditions were ideal and the vintage is highly regarded.

The individual vineyard and varietal parcels were harvested separately and fermented with wild yeast in our open topped concrete fermenters. Hand plunging was employed to gently extract colour and tannin. After a period of post fermentation maceration the individual parcels were pressed to french oak barrels and aged in cool cellars for 18 months, before blending in November 2020. This is Esk Valley's first Malbec based wine from our Gimblett Gravels vineyards.