Merlot

Winery's notes...

A stylish Hawke's Bay blend that has chartered our way, a wine with a strong character and a strong following. Blended from the best blocks from our estate, we use a variety of clones, each block fermented then matured in oak barrels as stand alone parcels. After 12 months initial maturation, each barrel was tasted and scored with only the best making the cut for The Navigator. Softly concentrated with deep and dense aromas of plush red fruits, cocoa, spice and cedar, the palate is medium-full bodied with rich and succulent flavours. 

The long finish and fine tannins make this an ideal accompaniment for your beef dishes, richly flavoured foods and cheeses. 

Merlot 34%, Cabernet Sauvignon 31%, Cabernet Franc 19%, Malbec 16%

Alpha Domus winery was founded in 1989 and its name is an anagram of the owners' names, Anthonius, Leonard, Paulus and Henrikus. Domus is Latin for home. 

They named this soft, chocolatey and plush Merlot after the classic 1932 Fox Moth aircraft, which helped open the world up to travel and adventure. This dry, smooth and full bodied red also opens up new worlds of flavour and shows why Merlot is the most planted red grape in Hawke's Bay - it works a treat there. 

This is a very good value, dry, medium bodied red from the country's second biggest wine region, Hawke's Bay, where the Babich family owns significant vineyard land. It's a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon whih reflects Hawke's Bay's vineyard plantings because Merlot is the most planted variety and it adds softness and flesh to the great structure that Cabernet provides. Babich Wines is one of New Zealand's oldest wine companies and remains in the hands of the same family whose ancestor, Josip Babich, founded it. 

Charles Wiffen and his family are well known for producing well priced (affordable), well liked (very good quality) wines in a range of styles, all from Marlborough grapes.

While Merlot is the second most planted red in Marlborough, it lags a long way behind the popular Pinot Noir, but wines such as this show another, softer side to the red wine story in this country's biggest wine region. Good drinking now and very good value for money.

Clearview Winery was founded by wine lover and winemaker Tim Turvey, who was the first to plant grapes on the coast at Te Awanga, south of Napier; it's a beautiful, if windy, site, and home to a tasty fruit salad of reds with Chardonnay his leading white.

This affordable full bodied Hawke's Bay red over delivers with soft, plush Merlot playing the lead role and balanced by a robust, spicy 12% Malbec, which adds oomph and power to the wine. 

About Clearview Estate

Clearview Estate is one of oldest, most well established wineries in Hawke's Bay and is situated on the Te Awanga Coast, south of Napier. It's a great place to visit for tastings at the cellar door as well as lunch in the dappled shade of the established courtyard area. The winery was founded by Tim Turvey, winemaker and co-owner. The current winemaker is the multi talented Matt Kirby.

Soft plush Merlot with the black olive flavours of Cabernet Sauvignon?s impressive structure both add great balance to this powerful wine from Clearview Estate in Hawke?s Bay. Flavours here are dark and brooding black olives, dried woody thyme with all its aromatic intensity, supported by the velvety smoothness of Malbec, which makes up a small portion of this wine. 

This is a wine that drinks well now and can age to evolve even more impressive flavours for up to 10 years. 

About Clearview Estate

Clearview Estate is one of oldest, most well established wineries in Hawke's Bay and is situated on the Te Awanga Coast, south of Napier. It's a great place to visit for tastings at the cellar door as well as lunch in the dappled shade of the established courtyard area. The winery was founded by Tim Turvey, winemaker and co-owner. The current winemaker is the multi talented Matt Kirby.

Merlot is the most planted red grape in Hawke's Bay and it's blended here with 15% Cabernet Franc, which adds the deep crimson colour and impressive backbone and structure to this wine. Fermentation was all in stainless steel tanks to retain fruit forward approachability with maturation for 17 months in French oak barriques, which adds smoothness and a velvety texture to this wine. It's dry and tastes of ripe dark fruit. 

Craggy Range Merlot is one of our top selling Hawke's Bay reds and one sip will leave you seeing why. 

Sophia is part of Craggy Range's Prestige Collection, which is the winery's top tier of wines and only released in the best years. 

Sophia is a Merlot blend, modelled on right bank Bordeaux classics. This wine includes 19% Cabernet Franc and 81% Merlot. All grapes were hand picked and 100% destemmed with fermentation all taking place in French oak cuves with innoculated yeasts. The wine was matured in French oak barriques, 45% new, for 18 months and bottled without fining but with a coarse filtration to retain as much weight, tannin and flavour as possible. This is a wine for the long haul and will reward decanting now as well as aging for up to a decade. 

Commercial description

Our Merlot Cabernet Franc comes from our Cornerstone vineyard growing in Hawke's Bays' famed Gimblett Gravels appellation. An area renowned for producing excellent hot climate reds. We think Cornerstone is the jewel in the appellation's crown but there again we are rather biased!

In our Iris blend, the Merlot sets up the palate with ripeness and structure while the Cabernet Franc brings its sweet dried basil notes to create our deliciously good medium-bodied red

A proprietary estate red blend sourced mainly from the warm, inland soils of Bridge Pa Triangle and Gimblett Gravels. Plummy Merlot and spicy Syrah dominant flavours complexed by additions of Tempranillo, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Generous, soft, red fruits with easing going drinkability.