Linden Estate Hawke’s Bay Merlot Cabernet Franc 2022 $36 Meeting Alex Hendry, Linden’s winemaker, is like meeting an elf-warrior who also happens to be a Mohican punk god that can conjure up magical Merlot-based blends that’ll drag you into his very tasty cult before you can scream “God Save The Queen!” Google him, click ‘images’ … Read More
merlot
Linden Destination Series Dam Block Hawke’s Bay 2020
Linden Destination Series Dam Block Hawke’s Bay 2020 $64 While there’s a seriously decent splash of merlot in the mix, the cabernet force is strong in this one. Delivering layers of lifted tobacco, dark cocoa, espresso, iron filings, and dusty carpenter’s workshop notes on the nose and palate, it’s roaring with toasty, smoky complexity. The … Read More
Village Vineyards Arataki Block Havelock North Red Blend 2021
Village Vineyards Arataki Block Havelock North Red Blend 2021 $45 The Evans family has transformed a sleepy little five-hectare block on Te Mata Road in Havelock North into a busy, vibrant vineyard where all sorts of magic happens. Merlot has become their most popular wine; it’s dominant in this bottle, but splashes of syrah and … Read More
Čuvar Guardians Cornerstone Vineyards Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Merlot Malbec 2023
Čuvar Guardians Cornerstone Vineyards Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Merlot Malbec 2023 $49 From a cyclone year when everything could have been a washout comes a Bordeaux-style blend that marries classic Cabernet characters of bay leaf, fresh tobacco, blueberry and blackcurrant, with the plummy plushness of Merlot and the meaty, savoury, dusty complexity of Malbec, to create … Read More
Brookfields Reserve Vintage Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Merlot Cabernet Franc 2023
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 … Read More
Monowai Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2022
Monowai Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2022 $24.99 From the top terraces of the Ngaruroro River, way out west of Hastings, comes a merlot heaving with dried herbs, dark cocoa, smoked berries, and pepper. It really opens up in the glass with some good swirling, and it’s the kind of merlot I can get extremely possessive about. … Read More
Le Grá Cut Cane Wairarapa Merlot 2023
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
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