IRONGATE CABERNET MERLOT FRANC 2005

 
Grapes:
Cabernet Sauvignon (46%), Merlot (45%) and Cabernet Franc (9%)

Region:
Hawke's Bay - Gimblett Gravels

Winemaker: 
Adam Hazeldine

Recommended Food: 
This wine is a brilliant match for red meats, game and pasta dishes. A perfect partner for casseroled lamb shanks or with Scotch fillet, roasted rare in the piece.

Recommended Cellaring:
4-10 years

Production Notes:
Extensive crop thinning in the vineyard produced select parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon (46%), Merlot (45%) and Cabernet Franc (9%). These grapes were individually fermented in open vats and spent an extended time on skin post ferment to aid structural development. The wines were put into new and seasoned French oak and assessed for quality after several months. After this time the individual parcels where blended and returned to oak for further maturation.

Tasting Notes:
A classic Irongate, brimming with rich blackberry and blueberry fruits, cassis, hints of vanilla and cedar. The palate is generous with a soft sweet fruit entry, cigar box complexity, seamless oak integration with a hint cocoa and a long finish. Tasted in 2008 the wine is still youthful although drinking very well with fine and seductive tannins.

Awards:
SILVER MEDAL
 -Liquorland Top 100, 2009

Reviews:
"Pure cassis" , noted one judge. This rich supple, Gimblett Gravels blend of Cabernet Sauvignon 46%, Merlot 45% and Cabernet Franc 9% is a distinctly bordeaux-like red, generous, complex and very harmonious.
4 STARS
-Winestate Magazine, Hawke's Bay Tasting Sept/Oct 2009

"A Bordeaux-like red showing the benefit of bottle age. Smooth-textured wine with restrained berry fruit and oak flavours plus emerging complexity giving a mellow, toasty influence. Intriguing wine that needs to be decanted for an hour to display its full array of complex flavours. A more elegant than blockbuster red that nonetheless packs plenty of power. Past vintages demonstrate an ability to age well."
4 STARS
90 POINTS
-Bob Campbell, BobsWineReviews.com

"Grown in the Irongate vineyard in Gimblett Road, Hawke's Bay and matured in French oak barriques (30 per cent new), this elegant, complex, firmly structured red is designed for cellaring.  The 2005 vintage is a classic - very classy and refined.  Deeply coloured, it is fresh and youthful, with pure, blackcurrant-like flavours to the fore, rich and ripe, but not heavy, in a subtle style that will appeal strongly to Bordeaux lovers.  Open 2010+"
5 STARS
-Michael Cooper's Guide to New Zealand Wines 2009