Church Road Cuve Series Malbec

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Church Road Cuve Series

Hawke's Bay Malbec 2002

The Church Road Cuve Series range is an opportunity to present a range of interesting and individual wines outside our mainstream Church Road production. With these wines, our winemakers are extending the varietal and winemaking boundaries to deliver exciting wines with unique personality interest.

This is the first Malbec presented under the Church Road Cuve Series label.

Crafted from ripe, low-yielding Malbec from our premium vineyards in Hawke's Bay and using traditional Bordeaux winemaking techniques, this premium red wine marries ripe, concentrated fruit flavours with spicy oak complexities.

Winemaker's Notes

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Release date: October 2004
Variety: Malbec 87% , Merlot 13%
Region: Hawke's Bay

Description

A rich, ripe and expressive Malbec showing the very best characteristics of this traditional Bordeaux variety.

Colour: An inky, rich red of great intensity.

Aromas: On the nose, a complex array of violet, black cherry and cigar box aromas are complemented by spicy French oak.

Palate: Rich, succulent fruit and a firm backbone of tannin are balanced by soft acidity and an attractive, fleshy mid-palate. The finish is long and ripe.

Recommended Cellaring

This wine will reward careful cellaring for up to five years. Over time the primary berry fruit characters will diminish and be replaced by more complex and earthy flavours and aromas. Colour evolution will accompany these changes.

Harvest

2002 was a very good vintage for red wines in Hawke's Bay. With heat levels well above the 30-year-average and low rainfall, we achieved very ripe sugars with low acidity and excellent concentration of flavour, colour and tannin.

Brix at harvest: 23.7°

Winemaking

Winemakers: Tony Prichard

This wine was made using traditional Bordeaux-based winemaking techniques. Grapes were crushed to fermenters and the wine gently circulated over the skins for a period of 21 days to extract colour, tannin and flavour. Following fermentation, the new technique of micro-oxygenation was used in conjunction with traditional barrel ageing in French barriques to soften and develop the high concentration of tannins typical to this variety.

The wine remained in French oak barrels (70% new, 30% one-year-old) for approximately 14 months to extract oak flavour, stabilise colour and evolve the tannins.

Analysis

Alcohol: 13.9% vol.
Total Acidity: 5.7 g/l

Vintages

2002, 2003*

* currently available vintage(s)

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