Le Grá Cut Cane Wairarapa Merlot 2023 $67 Crafted in an experimental ‘Amarone’ style, the team at Le Grá have cut the grapevine canes, which denies the ripe berries access to water and nutrition, so they naturally begin to shrivel, concentrating the sugars and creating a really unusual style of merlot. Aromatically it’s a different … Read More
merlot
Obliix Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2022
Obliix Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2022 $24 Grown in the Gimblett Gravels and crafted by the superstatus talent of Michelle Richardson, this deeply earthy, tobacco and toast-edged blend of 69% cabernet sauvignon, 26% merlot and5% malbec is superbly smooth, soothing, sewn together with bay, cocoa and plum plumpness. Warming, deliciously balanced, licked with dried … Read More
Csânyi Teleki Villanyi Merlot 2019
Csânyi Teleki Villanyi Merlot 2019 $27 If you’re a merlot nut, or simply merlot-curious, you might be excited to know that you don’t have to stick with the same old styles from our local heat-traps, finally, we have access to a really interesting style from Hungary! Super-earthy, dusted with cocoa powder, blueberry and brick dust, … Read More
Brookfields Highland Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2021
Brookfields Highland Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2021 $46 Owner and winemaker Peter Robertson has been making wine in Hawke’s Bay since the mid-1970s and when you’re in Hawke’s Bay for that long, you get to know Merlot incredibly well. In fact, Hawke’s Bay’s wine powers that be were considering dubbing the region “Hawke’s Bay, Merlot Country” … Read More
Village Vineyards Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2020
Village Vineyards Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2020 $30 Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. I love spending time in our Auckland office because people put names on the food in the fridge which is really quaint. Right now I’m eating some spag bol called ‘Debbie’. It needs salt. This merlot … Read More
Black Cottage Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2021
Black Cottage Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2021 $18 Super-fresh and frisky, this wine has a tweak of smoke and soy on the tongue in amongst a jungle of berries, cherries and black plum punchiness. Bright, breezy, and showing gently chewy, gum-fuzzing tannins, it’s a crowd-pleaser for sure. Black Cottage
Jules Taylor ‘The Jules’ Gisborne Rosé 2022
Jules Taylor ‘The Jules’ Gisborne Rosé 2022 $25 Paired with Annabel Langbein’s Black bean and bacon soup in the NZ Herald CANVAS Sat 17th June This is one of those hearty, ribsticking, salivatingly salty soups that screams out to be paired with a plush, plump, punchy rosé like this new release from Jules Taylor. Based … Read More
Elephant Hill Stone Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2019
Elephant Hill Stone Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2019 $60 Deep, richly structured Merlot sourced from the Gimblett Gravels has had a floral boost from a splash of 8% cabernet franc sourced from the Bridge Pa Triangle sub-region, and the result is an absolutely plush and perfectly balanced, refreshing red wine stacked with classic damson plum, dark … Read More
Decibel Wines Gimblett Gravels Testify Red Blend 2019
Decibel Wines Gimblett Gravels Testify Red Blend 2019 $56 Testify is the flagship red from Dan Brennan at Decibel and this vintage, from one of the holy trinity of Hawke’s Bay harvests (2019, 2020 & 2021) is a stonkingly good, certified organic blend of 60% malbec and 40% merlot which roars with spiced berry energy, … Read More
Main Divide North Canterbury Merlot Cabernet 2020
Main Divide North Canterbury Merlot Cabernet 2020 $18-$21 A lipsmacking blend of classic varieties produces a plummy, cocoa and blueberry-laced wine that’s ripe, spicy and very easy to drink. It’s a smile-inducing, uncomplicated style that’ll work nicely with anything meaty. Just drink it, don’t overthink it. Main Divide