Brookfields Gold Label Reserve Vintage Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Merlot Cabernet Franc 2023 $70 
This blend of 70% Cabernet Franc, 16% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc is lucky to be alive. Why? Because on Feb 14th, just weeks before the fruit was due to be harvested, the most catastrophic cyclone in 80 years roared through the region, putting Brookfields vineyards and winery underwater. However, a marathon dig-out and clean-up by the team, their neighbours, and supporters meant that, as the sun shone and everything dried out, the red grapes were able to ripen, concentrate, and condense under the Autumn sun to their full potential. So, from a weather bomb vintage comes one of the greats. Scented with blueberry, blackberry, ironsands and graphite goodness, soft smoke, dark cocoa, seasoned leather, ushering in blue and black fruits, charred olives, dusty carpenter’s workshop and shows deliciously suede-like, sandy tannins and a gum-tingling finish that lingers so long you’re tempted to offer it breakfast.
