There's much to appreciate about Gimlet Gravels, says wine reviewer Mark Henderson.
The Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association has had a longstanding relationship with highly respected Australian Master of Wine Andrew Caillard, who since 2008 has selected the wines for the Gimblett Gravels dozen.
These are representative of the vintage and highlight the strengths of that year. For me, the wines have shown an incredible poise and restraint.
The winemakers managed to walk that fine line, capturing richness and density while retaining elegance, which has made these wines a delight.
Price: $60
Rating: Excellent to outstanding
This opens to a dusty note with sweetly fragrant, spicy oak and plummy fruit. Medium weight with spices and black pepper, the plums being joined by Fruit Jubes. This is beautifully balanced, giving depth, intensity of fruit without heft and with fine, ripe tannins underpinning the wine. A study in elegance, and rather lovely.
Price: $79
Rating: Outstanding
Cassis and leaf notes suggest cabernet. Changing and evolving in the glass: now dark fruits, then lead pencil, then savoury elements, this has complexity. Initially, the tannins seem to dominate but this blossoms enormously with aeration, the red and black fruits filling the mouth, savoury notes building, leading to a long and satisfying finish. Delicious.
Price: $50
Rating: Excellent
A really floral nose this one; violets, plums and five-spice with oak nuances. Powerful, sweet fruit on entry showing ripe cranberry, blackcurrant and hints of leaf before the tannins flood in. A big wine, but nicely balanced and built for the long haul.
Firms a little with aeration but this does show a lot of promise.
Price: $35
Rating: Excellent to outstanding
A whisper of burnt match initially before the intense, dark berry fruits and savoury touches come to the fore. Hand-to-hand combat in the glass at first: powerful tannins waging war with the lovely dark fruits, emphasising its youth.
This builds and builds with aeration, becoming sumptuous, rich and intense suggesting that some bottle age will be rewarded.
Price: $65
Rating: Excellent to outstanding
Dustiness, a dark and brooding nose with a sense of mystery: hints of loganberry, char and milkchocolate. Dark sweet fruits on the palate; spices, chocolate and some oak sweetness. This has fruit intensity, nicely underpinned by fine tannins with fresh acidity and a zingy boysenberry-like lift on the finish.
More tightly structured but rather delicious.
Price: $60
Rating: Very good to excellent
A more subtle nose here with ripe, red fruits, plums and cedary oak. Plums and Fruit Jubes form the core of the sweet fruit on the palate, with a suggestion of spearmint in the background giving lift and freshness. A little tightly wound for the moment.
The elements are here, but for now, hinting at the wine that will evolve with time.
www.forrest.co.nz/collections/newtonforrest
