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Thornbury Hawkes Bay 2007 Merlot
 Just
feeling like a good red this week, I decided to try a bottle of
Thornbury’s Hawkes Bay Merlot. A Merlot is a drink I always
associate with winter dinners If therefore you are likely to be
depressed by winter weather, then if you look at Thornbury’s
philosophy, this wine should be for you, and that is why it was the
particular wine I chose last week.
Thornbury’s philosophy is based around the celebration of life and
living. Thornbury is a quality label, where winemaker Simon Fell
strives to achieve a wine of the best quality using the best fruit
available. The wines in the Thornbury range are based on the best
variety from each region in New Zealand
The fruit for this Merlot was sourced from three vineyards in the
acclaimed Gimblett Gravels wine growing region. This region is well
suited for Merlot, with the free draining, gravely soils and warm
conditions encouraging low yields and devigourated vines which in
turn results in dense, richly flavoured wines.
The individual vineyards were hand harvested when the fruit reached
optimum ripeness. The fruit was then destemmed and crushed to open
top fermenters. It was then hand plunged four times a day for four
weeks on skins to ensure good flavour, tannin extraction and colour.
After malolactic fermentation, maturation took place in French and
America oak barriques for 16 months. The wine was then racked to
tank for blending and a light egg-white fine prior to bottling.
In my opinion, this is an excellent Merlot. It is a big, fuller
bodied Merlot with ripe plum and dark fruit aromatics. On the
palate, the plum and blackberry flavours blend well with dark
chocolate and savoury oak. I must point out here that the oak
flavour seems to be more typical of French oak than American,
indicating perhaps that more French oak barriques were used. Sorry
readers I do not have the actual percentages used.
The firm, ripe tannins balance the fresh fruit flavours and make it
a good choice for stronger flavoured dishes. I would personally
recommend it with that New Zealand favourite, Roast Lamb. Of course
if you want the full effect of this or any other Merlot, it pays to
decant your wine first or allow it to breath. For those of you who
like to have a cellar of good wines, there is good news too because
I would expect this wine to be happy being cellared until 2015.
Reviewed by Stephen Clark (15/6/2009)
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