Villa Maria Reserve Gimblett Gravels Merlot 2020

Villa Maria Reserve Gimblett Gravels Merlot 2020French oak Dark plum Roasted coffee Fine grained tannins The Reserve Merlot is an age worthy wine saturated with deep purple colour and perfume. The aromatics display dark plum and floral violet notes, interwoven with roasted coffee bean and wood spice. The palate is concentrated and firmly structured in its youth with fine grained tannins enhanced by integrated oak. This wine will benefit and gain additional complexity from careful cellaring. 2020

• French oak
• Dark plum
• Roasted coffee
• Fine-grained tannins

The Reserve Merlot is an age-worthy wine saturated with deep purple colour and perfume. The aromatics display dark plum and floral violet notes, interwoven with roasted coffee bean and wood spice. The palate is concentrated and firmly structured in its youth with fine-grained tannins enhanced by integrated oak. This wine will benefit and gain additional complexity from careful cellaring.

2020 will be remembered as a great Hawkes Bay vintage. Spring was warm and dry which was a trend that continued through into early Summer. Some cooler weather in January helped retain acidity and freshness in the grapes then settled dry weather around harvest ensured the grapes were picked in perfect condition with good ripeness.

The fruit for this wine was grown entirely on the Omahu Gravels vineyard located in the famous Gimblett Gravels growing region. Our vineyards here contribute small parcels of exceptional fruit, each with their own unique characteristics. The free-draining soils of these sites help ensure balanced fruit and canopy growth which is essential for ripe flavours and tannin development. Yields are cropped low allowing vines to produce fruit that is richly concentrated in colour, flavour and structure.