Awards & Reviews

Silver: London IWC 2003

Gravelly mineral and undergrowth aromas on the nose. The palate features ripe, succulent currant fruit, flashes of nutmeg and a clear seam of balancing acidity.

London IWC 2003 (May 2003)

An opportunity to buy a relatively mature release of one of New Zealand's best examples of a Bordeaux-style red from one of the best vintages of last century in Hawke's Bay. Plums and cherries, nuts and spice. Earthy. Savoury. Rich. Like bottled christmas cake.

Warren Barton - Top 100 Wines for Christmas, Dominion Post (Dec 2002)

***** Very complex and highly Bordeaux-like ... Deeply coloured, with a fragrant, plummy, spicy bouquet, it is weighty, leathery, earthy and nutty, with excellent ripeness and harmony and a firm tannin backbone.

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

Had a special occasion to celebrate, so I made a lasagne to accompany this red. This is the first merlot dominant reserve produced by Church Road and will no doubt be enjoyed by merlot lovers. The wine was full and earthy. Spicy French oak blended with ripe cherries on the palate matched the pretty fab lasagne (if I may say so myself).

Angela Madden Smith (Sept 2002)

Attractive now, quite bold, yet with low acidity the next maturing phase about to occur. Winemaker says 18 months more; seems right to see the complexity take over. A hot year, a well regarded vintage; this one still to prove itself but the colour is right, there are no herbals; just needs more time to evolve and show best.

Saunders on Wine (20 Aug 2002)

(16.75) A more open and fruit driven style to the [Newton Forest] wine. Juicy, lively fruit. Good concentration and moderate complexity. A smoothly structured wine, nicely put together.

Kiwi Wine Fan Club (Aug 2002)

Hailing from an exceptional Hawke's Bay vintage, this is the finest red produced under this label to date. It is a complex, full-bodied yet elegant wine with layers of fruit, sumptuous texture and impressively integrated tannins. Remarkably Bordelais in style, it is an indication of where the best Hawke's Bay reds are now heading. The extra bottle age has helped but it will still hold for four to six years.

Stephen Bennett (Aug 2002)

***** Very complex and highly Bordeaux-like ... Deeply coloured, with a fragrant, plummy, spicy bouquet, it is weighty, leathery, earthy and nutty, with excellent ripeness and harmony and a firm tannin backbone.

5 Star Wines, WineState (July/Aug 2002)

Dark, vanilla-dabbed, sweetly vinous wine with a distant suggestion of camphor lingering about its muscular shoulders. Well-flavoured, neatly made and offering warmth without losing its sense of sophistication, this wine is sure to introduce a lot of punters to the pleasures of quality, New Zealand-grown red wine - here and elsewhere.

Keith Stewart - Listener (18 May 2002)

A balanced wine with cedar and spicy oak bouquet, a rich ripe blackcurrant flavour and warm lingering finish.

Glenda Neil - Next

It might be your last chance to grab a top red from this legendary vintage. Rich, dark and plummy, with a warm, generous palate of real complexity, this is instantly attractive yet should also cellar well.

Charles Gill - Food & Drink (30 Apr 2002)

This was a great vintage and Montana has pulled in all its available expertise with Bordeaux-style wines to craft this spicy, ripe cherry and plum delight with well integrated oak. Drink it now if you must but it will age for a decade.

Brendon Burns - Marlborough Express (11 Apr 2002)

***** ... a generous, nutty, leathery, slightly earthy wine, warm and harmonious. Weighty, rich and firm, it's likely to peak about 2004.

Michael Cooper - Sunday Star Times (7 Apr 2002)

... It has an excellent colour of dense red and rich, chocolate oak aromas with berry, plum, leather and savoury meats. There's upfront fruitiness in the mouth with a lovely richness and ripeness and a warm spicy French oak layer, solid but very fine tannins, bright plum, cassis and leather and interesting savoury complexities. There's that leather hallmark of merlot and a lift of citrus on the finish that has great length.
Prichard says he has put a lot of effort into this wine to manipulate the tannin structure. There's no added tannin, however. This is a wine to put away for the next couple of years. Cellaring will reward. "The best red wine we have ever made", says Prichard. I thought it was pretty darn nice, too.

Wines of the Week, wineoftheweek.com (7 Apr 2002)

Soft, berry flavoured but with a dusky touch of tannin on the tonsils, this is one honey of a red. Winemaker Tony Prichard is claiming it as one of his best ever, with cellaring potential of up to 10 years. That'll take some discipline, as the wine went down as well as the doozie summer of 1998. The Merlot predominates, hinting at cherries and fat plums, but there's enough Cabernet and Cabernet Franc to give it a bold finish. Church Road consistently produces a trustworthy drop. A high five for this one, Tones!

Vincent Heeringa - Selects, UnlimitedNet (1 April 2002)

With a couple of years more age than the Ngatarawa, the concentrated fruit, spicy oak and firm tannins have mellowed leaving a slight earthiness that adds interest and complexity. It is drinking nicely now.

Charmian Smith - Otago Daily Times (20 March 2002)

A nicely mature Hawke's Bay release. Plummy, Pomerol Christmas cake and cigar box nose and chocolate, berryfruit, cherry and spicy oak flavours. The good concentration, ripe fruit and (especially) the excellent tannic structure put this in the top echelon of NZ Bordeaux-style reds. Can be cellared with confidence.

Graeme Barrow - Bay of Plenty Times (19 Mar 2002)

Already an award winner - a Blue Gold at the Sydney International Wine Competition 2002 - this wine has impressed the judges and it will also impress you. It has full deep-red colours and an open nose of plums and some blackcurrants. The palate is complex yet elegant. It has good mouth feel and body with those plum flavours again. There is some spice, some tannin and a nicely balanced acid. I think it is enjoyable now but it will cellar.

Peter Shaw - Waikato Times (19 Mar 2002)

I love this Merlot-based Hawke's Bay red, which gets noticeably better the longer you let it hang around in the glass. It's a perfect contender for decanting since it opens up noticeably over several hours, moving from a tight young muscly red into an incredibly food-friendly, gorgeously plummy perfumed wine. And just for the record it contains 75 per cent Merlot, 15 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and a dash of Malbec and Cabernet Franc.

Joélle Thomson - NZ Herald (20 Feb 2002)