Tasting Notes
Our winemaking philosophy is to create quality distinctive New Zealand wines from the regions in which they are most renown. This distinctive Sparkling Rosé from the Marlborough and Hawkes Bay regions does exactly that. The exceptional wine qualities that are intrinsic from these regions have been blended together to provide an exciting sparkling wine.
The Rosé is a proprietary blend of Marlborough Riesling and Hawkes Bay Merlot grapes (less than 15% of the blend is Merlot). This has resulted in a pleasant well balanced wine with excellent length. It is light cherry/strawberry in colour and exhibits fresh aromas of crushed wild strawberries and juicy ripe melons. A lively palate of summer fresh red stone fruits, such as, red doris plums, hints of cherry, lime and lemon zest with a cranberry twist. The sparkles give the wine a fresh lively uplift with a semi sweet finish.
Food Matching
Savour this delighful sparkling wine with a light lunch or evening cocktails. Terrific with salmon, summer salads or try it with an antipasto platter. Perfect for drinking now and over the next two to three years.
Viticulture and Winemaking
Vines were trained from two to four canes on a vertical shoot positioned trellis. Balanced shoot thinning, leaf plucking and trimming were carried out to maintain a healthy canopy and ripening conditions. Grapes were picked from late March until late April. The Riesling grapes were harvested from vineyards in the mid Wairau Valley of Marlborough with the Merlot coming from free-draining stony soils of Hawkes Bay. The Merlot was hand-picked and fermented in stainless steel, followed by aging for 10 months in predominantly older seasoned French oak barrels. The Riesling was machine harvested and specific yeasts selected for fermentaion to ensure the inherent lemon and lime zest flavours were retained. This wine was carbonated at bottling at very low temperatures.