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![Reserve red]( "Reserve red")
An elegant wine which will mature gracefully, gaining further complexity with careful cellaring.
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Tasting Notes
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The Reserve Merlot reveals a saturated deep purple colour and perfumed aromatics of red and black plum, fruitcake and floral violet notes, interwoven with roasted coffee bean and complex herb nuances. The palate is concentrated and firmly structured in its youth with fine-grained tannins enhanced by integrated oak. This wine will certainly benefit and gain additional complexity from careful cellaring over the next decade.
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Vineyards and Winemaking
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The fruit for this single vineyard wine was grown entirely from a young block planted in the free draining Bridge Pa 'red-metal' soils in Hawkes Bay. The free draining soils help ensure balanced fruit and canopy growth which coupled with attentive viticulture practices is essential for developing ripe flavours and tannin development in the fruit. Yields are managed low, allowing vines to produce fruit that is richly concentrated in colour, flavour and structure, ideal for the production of Villa Maria Reserve.
Rich, fleshy Merlot with good colour and impressive depth of ripe plum, cigar box and new leather flavours. This is a serious red that has a firm structure and will respond to bottle age but is certainly approachable now. 95 points.
Bob Campbell MW
