Awards & Reviews

Bronze: London IWC 2003

Lovely juicy damson fruit is intensified with eucalyptus and minty herbal fruit. A touch of capsicum develops on the palate through the finish.

London IWC 2003 (May 2003)

***½ ... Firm and youthful, with very good depth of cassis, spice, green leaf and French oak flavours, it is vibrant and well-structured, but also shows a slight lack of warmth and softness. Drink: 2003+

Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines, 2003

Q***½/V**** The bouquet is savoury and gently berryish. It's smooth on the palate, sweet-edged with well-directed flavours and a moderately long finish. Enjoy it with a 'sandwich' of thin slices of rare beef between two thicker slices of grilled eggplant. Drink: now-3 years.

Vic Williams - The Penguin New Zealand Wine Guide 2003

Brightly coloured. Well-structured, vibrant palate with blackcurrant, spice and French oak flavours, although two panelists noted a slight lack of warmth and softness.

Winestate (Sept/Oct 2002)

(16.25) This is so much better than the first time I tried it a few weeks ago. Well balanced, ripe blackcurrant, blackberry fruit, with a real creamy texture. Compact, with slight restraint and good complexities of violets, and a nutty note. Good, real solid commercial cabernet.

Kiwi Wine Fan Club (Sept 2002)

For a "standard" wine this is darn good. It is all the more meritorious for being a wine produced in relatively large volumes. With much more weight, flavour and character than some of our more expensive smaller volume reds, this is a good one when faced with the desire to find a good wine at a modest price on a restaurant wine list. While it won't make the best French producers quake in their boots, it certainly beats most French Bordeaux reds that grace our shelves in the same price bracket.

Malcolm Reeves - Evening Standard (25 July 2002)

Cheerful mid-road style, cedary with some tannin, balanced and accessible with its own complexity developing well. Opening up further as each month passes.

F&B (June 2002)

Ripe, spicy berry fruit and firmly structured tannins make this Hawke's Bay red good with food.

Charmian Smith - Otago Daily Times (20 March 2002)

... would be a fine tribute to Tom McDonald. It has a vibrant red colour, an intense nose of berries and the taste lingers with ripe fruit, soft acidity and tannin. It would go well with Mediterranean barbecued eggplant and capsicum and red meat. It's an oldie and a goodie.

Waikato Times (23 Feb 2002)

Hawke's Bay wine, with a berryfruit, coffee and oak bouquet, and berryfruit and chocolate flavours. Smooth and quite forward, with light tannins and good balance and interest.

Graeme Barrow - Morowhenua-Kapiti Chronicle (23 Jan 2002)

Like the other Church Road reds, is made with technical input from the Bordeaux house of Cordier. The result is a sensual, spicy, and, for this sort of money, relatively complex red.

Warren Barton - Dominion (5 Jan 2002)

A deliciously tannic Hawke's Bay standard from Montana. You can feel the LDL changing to HDL - the good cholesterols - as you sip. Subdued blackberry fruit in the classic claret style with a generous aftertaste. It will cellar for five years but it is hard to resist now. Dry.

Roger Ewer - Greymouth Evening Star (22 Dec 2001)

Good colour, lots of oak for now and still feels fresh. A nice red, not yet at the cost and cuddly stage but developing well after 18 months and the best will show next year. It's serious, carries the New Zealand flag nobly, and is one to look forward to.

F & B Best of the Best 2001