Esk Valley Heipipi The Terraces 2016

This is a handcrafted wine with much effort made to produce a wine that is a true expression of its site. The wine is deeply coloured and full of primary black fruits, including cherry and blackberry. As a young wine, French oak notes complement the fruit, but with time, complexity and vineyard nuances will predominate. This wine has been sealed with a screw cap to guarantee the quality of each bottle and offer even greater cellaring potential.

The Terraces Vineyard is perched on the steep, North West facing slope above the old Esk Valley winery near Bay View in the North of Hawkes Bay. This sunny, sheltered site was originally planted in the 1940s and then re-established with its current plantings in 1989. It occupies approximately one hectare and is planted with Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc which are harvested and fermented together as a true expression of the vineyard. The soils are complex with low fertility, containing layers of seashell and limestone, interspersed with clay and volcanic ash.

Spring saw cool conditions and lower than average rainfall, however despite changeable weather around flowering it was generally successful with good fruit set. Shoot & bunch thinning was carried out as needed in select vineyards and overall the health of the vines was excellent, resulting in a highly satisfactory harvest

The vines are spurpruned, thinned to one bunch per shoot and hand harvested

This wine is a true vineyard blend with the individual plots of Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc being harvested and fermented together. The grapes were hand harvested, sorted and destemmed to a 80-year-old concrete vat for fermentation. Hand plunging was employed for cap management. The finished wine was aged in 50% French oak barriques for 17 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered.