Radburnd Cellars Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, 2018 

70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon from free-draining sites, matured for 21 months in new and seasoned French oak barriques.

An elegant Merlot Cabernet blend which exhibits lifted aromatics of fragrant berry fruits, sweet French oak, and underlying lavender and thyme. Complex and textural, seamless tannins harmoniously support red and black fruits, earthiness, and spice. Tautly poised to develop beautifully with bottle age.

Winemakers Notes:

Batches of hand harvested fruit was chilled overnight before processing the following day. Chilled bunches were hand sorted and destemmed, and whole berries were transferred to open fermenters with some foot stomping. Whole bunches were also incorporated in some of the Merlot fermenters. The berries were cold soaked before fermentation, with pumping over twice per day then pressed to barriques at the end of fermentation. The Merlot and Cabernet matured for 21 months in new and seasoned French oak barriques. Blended in December 2019 and bottled in January 2020, the final blend is approximately 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Radburnd Cellars was established in 2017, with the single purpose of Kate making her very best wine from each vintage without compromise - using the best fruit, the best equipment and the best resources. We make a single tier of wines in very limited volumes – representing the best, not the most We’ve carefully selected vineyards around Hawke’s Bay that are perfect for the wines we make, in the style we love. All vineyards we source fruit from are either Sustainable Wine-growing New Zealand accredited or organic.

"Appetising, gently-textured wine that's far from a blockbuster but has good integrity. Lifted, leafy nose and some sweetness on palate entry but nothing heavy or exaggerated. I'm tasting this, as instructed, at room temperature but I think it could take a little cooling too. Light to medium body. Quite sophisticated." Rating: 16/20 Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com September 2020.

Drink now to 2026.