Esk Valley Rosé Hawkes Bay 2022

This dry style Rosé is widely regarded as New Zealand's premium Rose and has won many awards since its first vintage in 1991. It is an excellent choice with many foods or as an aperitif. It is a beautiful pale pink, dry to taste with aromas and flavours of redcurrants, strawberry and peach.

This grapes were grown in two inland merlot vineyards. Both produce a full favoured and elegant Rose. They are gravel based river terraces, one at Puketapu, the other one on the banks of the Ngaruroro River on Ohiti Road.

It was a challenging vintage to navigate in Hawkes Bay with frequent rain through February and March. The summer started hot, with very settled weather around the Christmas period before the wetter late summer arrived. The fruit was often picked at relatively low sugar levels however the hot summer delivered excellent "avour ripeness. The aromatic wines look very good, particularly Rosé.

The fruit for this wine was grown in gravel based soils in cooler inland vineyard sites, warm enough to fully ripen the grapes while also retaining good acidity at harvest. Intensively managed with both shoot and bunch thinning practised, allowing us to pick fully ripened grapes at low sugars in the pursuit of an elegant and dry style Rose.

The individual vineyard parcels were pressed immediately upon arrival at the winery, resulting in juice with little colour or tannin. After settling the juice bright, the fermentation was conducted at low temperatures to capture the vibrant red fruit flavours we seek in our Esk Valley Rose. The ferment was stopped when almost dry, leaving a small quantity of residual sugar to balance the natural acidity.