Tironui Above and Beyond Hawke’s Bay Malbec Merlot Cabernet 2024 $40 
Grown high on the sugarloaf terraces which loom above the Napier suburb of Taradale, looking eastward to the pinnacles of Cape Kidnappers, this Malbec-dominant, deeply inky red roars with classically savoury tones. Those tones are awash with fresh tobacco, Dutch cocoa, bay leaf, and peppercorn from the Cabernet Sauvignon, with a pang of plushness from the Merlot. Black olive, a lick of soy and saucy smoked blueberry and cherry complexity flood the mid-palate and lead to a long, elastically textured finish.
Nicely put together and destined for the long haul, I’d love to taste this again in 2028.
