Cellar Selection | Hawkes Bay
Merlot
Vintage 2020
Description
Viticulture
Winemaking
This deeply coloured Merlot displays perfumed aromas of dark plum, violets and dried herbs, with complexing oak spice characters. A medium bodied, smooth and approachable palate follows with sweet fruit, supple tannins and moreish acidity.
2020 was an exceptional Hawkes Bay vintage, following on beautifully from 2019. Warmer than average temperatures and dry conditions encouraged fruit across the region to achieve optimum ripeness and maintain excellent condition through to harvest. This wine is a blend of Villa Maria's Gimblett Gravels vineyards, where free draining soils temper vine vigour, resulting in low yields of ripe and concentrated fruit.
Once destemmed and crushed to open-top fermenters the grapes were inoculated with several strains of yeast and fermented at 30 degrees C. Post fermentation the parcels were pressed to a mixture of 2nd use Hungarian and American oak barriques for 12 months maturation. The wine was blended, egg white fined and filtered to bottle.
