Notes on Past Vintages

2003

The wine itself is again Merlot predominant, around 65%, with the balance 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the remainder Franc. The wine spent 20 months in French oak, 40% new.

In the glass, the wine is almost a blackish red, soft mulberry, with a hint of coffee and spirits on the nose, a taut wine, by that, not soft or flabby, with complex soft fruits, mulberry, cherries intertwined with toasty oak, very long, rich and full on the palate. A harmonious and approachable wine yet with the backbone to stay around for some years.

2002

The 2002 vintage (*****) is a blend of Merlot (50%), Cabernet Sauvignon (43%) and Cabernet Franc (7%), matured in French oak barriques (70% new). Stylish and concentrated, with sweet fruit delights and rich cassis, plum, herb and spice flavours, it shows excellent complexity, with a firm tannin backbone. Fleshy generous and well structured, it's a wine of real class and individuality.

***** Michael Cooper's 2005 guide

2001

Tasting notes: This is a predominantly Merlot wine. Big meaty plummy nose. Deep purple red in colour, savoury spicy sweet fruit on the palate. Very approachable now with excellent cellaring potential.

Five Star Winestate magazine

2000

Cool season. Not a great year as far as the weather, rain at flowering again almost wiped out the Merlot, and the rest of the season wasn’t a lot better. A lesson in the practical advantages of grafted vines over own rooted, over 1/2 the vintage went into second label (A Song for Osiris), hence under 100 cases all up. The wine still has a good body, and a lovely elegance.

Tasting notes: Again cabernet predominant. Big ripe fruit, cassis spice and savoury flavours.

Silver again at the International Wine Challenge in London.

The weather station D15247 closed in January, so I can only estimate on the basis of previous vintages, probably somewhere around:
1220-1240 Heat Units

1999

Almost as warm as 1998, but more spread out over the season, and some rain later in the season. Small production due to rain at flowering. A little more open and forward than the ’98, but still a big wine with a good future.

Tasting notes: A cabernet predominant wine. Complex on the nose, berry fruits, savoury sweet ripe flavours. The palate is velvet soft with excellent fruit weight and delicate structure.

Silver at International Wine Challenge in London, 2001.

Growing season heat summation:
1561.4 Heat Units*

1998

An extremely dry year, with record heat levels through the ripening period. Still a very dark and youthful wine of great intensity beginning to open out, but best left for another year or two.

Tasting notes: Another big Merlot year ( 60%) Dense purple black colour. Big wine with very rich ripe luscious Merlot fruit reflecting reflecting the hot dry season. Cassis and spice.

Silver at International Wine Challenge, London 2000.

Growing season heat summation:
1567 Heat Units.

1997

An unusually cool and difficult year, marked by poor conditions at flowering which drastically reduced the crop, especially Merlot. Despite the conditions, we achieved good ripeness, but colour at bottling was a bit lighter than we would have preferred, though the wine itself has a lovely classical structure, and is improving noticeably in bottle. Still a long way to go.

Tasting notes: Floral raspberries, even strawberries on nose. A lighter wine reflecting coolness of vintage. Elegant silky tannin structure.

Growing season heat summation:
1235.5 Heat Units

1996

Our biggest vintage ever at around 280 cases also proved to be our next benchmark wine, still young and ruby hued, yet beginning to show lovely lifted and integrated characters, drinking well, this wine still has positive development and a long life ahead of it. Last tasted October 2002.

Tasting notes: Deep purple red. Beautifully ripe perfumed fruit aroma's of currants and dark plums. A hint of game too. Merlot showing on palate 55%. Fine grained silky tannins quite complete.

Five star cuisine

Growing season heat summation:
1396.5 Heat Units

1995

Our first big crop, around 180 cases excluding our second tier "A song for Osiris". A wine that I thought would come together more like the warmer years, is still a little reticent. May not have a lot of improvement ahead of it, but by the same token, will not fall over either. Difficult vintage conditions lead to the creation of a second tier. Last tasted Oct. 2002.

Tasting notes: Purple hued ruby, Bordeaux nose, pencil shavings, plummy, blackcurrant fruit. Lovely ripe curranty cabernet with sweet fruit ripeness and a touch of oak spice. Meatiness starting to show.

Five stars Cuisine

Growing season heat summation:
1304 Heat Units

1994

Still a cool year, though the final ripening period was good, the small crop load on the vines allowed us to achieve good ripeness. A more closed style in its youth, this wine is now opening up and showing a lovely elegant structure. Beginning to show more mature developed characters, still a way to go. Last tasted November 2000

Tasting notes: Still quite youthful in colour, reticent on nose, classically structured and a pleasing expression of cabernet sauvignon. Tastes like a Bordeaux from a hard year.

Growing season heat summation:
1229 Heat Units

1993

Not made, another cold miserable year resulting from the Mt. Pinatuba eruption in the Philippines.

Growing season heat summation:
1004.5 Heat Units

1992

Not made.

Growing season heat summation:
1001 Heat Units

1991

One of the coldest and wettest years to date, the wine demonstrates Cabernet Sauvignons ability to handle difficult vintages. Awarded Gold ant the Air New Zealand Wine Awards in 1992. Colour beginning to brown a little, Drinking well, Lovely rich integrated characters, but still capable of further development, last tasted April 2002.

Tasting notes: Cabernet performed brilliantly despite cold wet vintage. Lifted intense blackcurranty nose. Excellent fat rich fruit, fine grained tannins with a long persistence.

Gold medal Air New Zealand

Growing season heat summation:
1248 Heat Units

1990

Our first truly commercial release, from another of the good years of the eighties. For a long time we regarded this as our benchmark vintage. The wine was awarded Gold at Intervin, the first Martinborough wine to achieve this distinction. At April 2000, Colour still strong with more browning at the edges, the wine showing complex mature characters, drinking very well, last tasted November 2000.

Tasting notes: Maturing colour with Bordeaux like aromas and bottle aged complexities. Cedary, cigarbox nose, gamy chocolate and coffee flavours, still with good fresh acidity and tannin. Ready to drink but no rush.

Gold medal Intervin North America 1992

Growing season heat summation:
1523 Heat Units

1989

A very small vintage (28 litres) made from ripe fruit of one of the good years of the eighties. Mainly Merlot, when last looked at the colour was browning noticeably, but the nose still richly scented, and the palate sweet and complex. Probably past its peak, but as we only have two bottles left, we haven't looked at it for a while.

Growing season heat summation:
1584.55 Heat Units