Esk Valley Winemaker’s Reserve Blend 2016

This Winemakers Reserve blend is widely regarded as one of the finest of New Zealand’s red wines. Deeply coloured with aromatics hinting at black fruits including cherries, spice and smoke. The flavours typical of Gimblett Gravels Merlot blends tend toward fruitcake, cherry, chocolate and oak spice. Dry, complex and long finish, this is a fine vintage for this blend. This wine is a blend from grapes grown on the stony soils of the Gimblett Gravels. The vines in the Cornerstone and nearby Twyford Gravels vineyards were planted in 1990 and 2000 respectively and cropped at low levels to produce grapes of the highest possible quality. Intensive viticultural practices such as shoot, bunch thinning and leaf plucking were employed over the course of the growing season to further maximise the vineyards’ potential.