Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2015 Ch?teau Croix Cardinale is a rich dry and flavourful blend of 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc with lifted red fruit flavours of raspberry coulis and strawberries. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, bright acidity, balanced and poised with a delineated, slightly earthy finish that has just the right amount of dryness to urge another sip. 

What the critics say
A rich, unctuous wine, the 2015 Croix Cardinale is laced with dark cherry, plum, torrefaction, chocolate, tobacco, spice and leather. The super-ripe, late-harvest approach yields a powerful wine endowed with considerable depth and richness, but less in the way of aromatic intensity or freshness. The blend is 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc, brought in between October 13 and 20, which is to say very late for the year. In my view, this is picked too late and overdone, even among wines made in a similar style.
88-91 /100
Antonio Galloni 

The 2018 Blason de l'Evangile is made up of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc; Merlot was harvested September 19 to October 2, and Cabernet Franc was picked September 25 to October 1. Deep garnet-purple colored, it gives up open, spicy scents of powdered cinnamon, cloves and aniseed with a core of black cherry compote, warm plums, chocolate box and dried mint. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-coating black fruits with tons of evocative, spicy accents, framed by rounded tannins and finishing with a lively lift.

Reviewed by Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 91 - 93 (Wine Advocate)

The star of the Médoc, Cabernet Sauvignon is given pride of place in this French expression of a classic left bank Bordeaux red blend. Its structured body provides a beautiful wintery night's red to enjoy by the fire with cheddar and great company. 

This is a wine made for drinking now or over the next two to three years. 

Statuesque Bordeaux red from an outstanding producer; one of our top picks in store for drinking now and for ageing. 

Commercial description

Bordering the old Waiheke Air Strip this vineyard produces world-class Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot.

Planted when their children were barely walking, John and Paul Dunleavy?s vines have matured over two decades and, like their children, bring their own unique character to this wine.

Aged in barrels for 10 months, but made in a forward, fruit driven style to be enjoyed in youth, The Strip will continue to improve over time with careful cellaring.

Hieronymus is a blend of grapes and of vineyards and is composed of 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec and 8% Tempranillo with 58% from the Gimblett Gimblett and 42% from the Bridge Pa Triangle.

Grapes were harvested in three separate hand picked lots and fermented separately in oak cuves, then drained to barrel without pressing. The wine was aged for 26 months in 50% new French oak.

The wine's name pays homage to an ancestor of the winery's owners, the Weiss family.

Vineyard Sites - Cornerstone Vineyard lies at the heart of the renowned Gimblett Gravels viticultural region, strategically positioned at the junction of Gimblett Road and State Highway 50 in Hawke’s Bay. This area is celebrated as New Zealand’s premier Bordeaux red grape-growing region, and it’s easy to see why. The vineyard’s unique terroir, composed of riverbed stones and gravels, challenges the vines, leading them to produce a limited yield of small, intensely coloured, and flavourful berries. The resulting grapes give rise to wines with rich, mouth-filling tannins and a depth of character that speaks to the harsh yet rewarding growing conditions. 

Vinification - The grapes were carefully handpicked, then crushed and fermented in small 3-tonne open fermenters. Each batch was hand-plunged and allowed varying periods of post-ferment skin contact to enhance complexity and structure. After pressing off, the wine underwent malolactic fermentation and was aged in a mix of French (90%) and American (10%) oak barriques, adding subtle layers of flavour and depth. 

Tasting Notes - Enticing aromas of freshly sanded wood, new leather, anise, and spice draw you in. On the palate, sweet dark red fruits, plums, and berry pie flavours shine through. Grippy, robust, dry tannins balance a smooth, sweet, slightly charry oak profile. This wine is drinking well now but will develop even more complexity with ageing.

Fruit for this wine was sourced from mature vines in the Isolation Ridge vineyard at Frankland Estate. The vineyard sits on an undulating northern and eastern facing slope on ancient duplex soils of gravel and loam over a clay sub-soil. It is farmed using organic viticultural practices and this is reflected in the depth and concentration of fruit flavours. The vines are trained on a Scott Henry trellis system to enhance sunlight penetration of the canopy and optimize ripening conditions. 

This wine was fermented as long and slowly as possible, at temperatures not exceeding 26?C in open pot fermentation tanks that allowed the cap to be worked by plunging and an extended maceration period allowed optimal colour, flavour and tannin extraction. It was aged in 500 litre French oak puncheons, this contributing textural complexity without compromising the opulent natural fruit flavours of the wine

Certified Organic, Vegan Friendly

A fabulous Semillon Sauvignon Blanc blend from Bordeaux - a region that is often overlooked for white wine but which produces some real crackers. The fruit on this is super ripe but manages to remain understated and under control. Bold flavours of lime and passion fruit are balanced by savoury cut  grass and gooseberry. A great drop at a great price which would give any Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc a run for its money.

Ch?teau Lynch-Bages is one of the great Bordeaux red wine producers and is a robust, staunchly structured red with great agreeability and also a smoothness, suggesting a drink-me-now-or-soon appeal, so long as this wine is decanted and served in your best large glassware. 

The winery has been owned by the Cazes family since 1939.

The Cover Drive is named after the Penola cricket ground on the southern boundary of Coonawarra in South Australia. This famous cricket ground was retired in 1996 and Jim Barry bought the land to plant with grapes. This full bodied, dark and smooth red wine is the result. It's earthy, smooth and has complex flavours of black olives, dried herbs and bold blackcurrant notes. It drinks well when young and can also age for four to five years, evolving interesting savoury notes as it does. 

From the talented hand of John Quarisa using grapes from Coonawarra in South Australia.

Approachable, easy going and versatile, this wine has a nose of fresh, complex cassis and mint fruit flavours with some well integrated vanillin oak. The palate is full bodied with dense ripe cassis fruit flavours balanced with vanillin oak but yet long and smooth. This wine has the flavour, structure and balance to be enjoyed now but can benefit from further cellaring.

Chateau Gazin is located on the site of a hospital built in the 18th century by the Knights of St. John, and this fact lends itself to the naming of the second wine, l'Hospitalet de Gazin.

Gazin's superb vineyards cover 28 hectares in total of which 26 are under vine, planted with of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc. Traditional methods of viticulture and vinification are used with no use of chemical herbicides. The terroir here is exceptional, situated just next door to Petrus.

From its deep colour to its savoury aromas and complex layers of flavour - liquorice, spice and black olives - Blacksmith Cabernet Sauvignon is a full bodied and smooth wine with a great fruit presence and a long, spicy finish.

Langmeil is owned by the Lindner family, which has been making wine for six generations in the Barossa Valley.