CHURCH ROAD 1 CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2020

Gold Medal – New Zealand International Wine Show 2022

Winery notes (2020 Vintage)
"Church Road 1 is a range of single vineyard wines that showcase the terroir of our best vineyards. The Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District consistently makes our most characterful red wines, with its warm, stony soils producing low yield crops of intensely flavoured fruit with a full-bodied, rich yet vibrant flavour. Sheltered from sea breezes and brisk southerly winds, this is one of the warmest subregions in Hawke’s Bay, making it ideally suited to producing bold red wines. This vineyard tends to produce Cabernet Sauvignon with a core of dark fruit and a firm tannin structure that brings length, drive and great longevity.

Lifted aromatics of perfectly ripe Cabernet are supported by opulent dark berry fruit with a brooding, warm earthiness. Think floral notes and fragrant wood suggestive of rosewood, cedar, lavender and violet. Layered and complex with a supple mid palate and powerful, fine-grained tannins driving great length."

5 Stars & 97/100 Bob Campbell MW, December 2022 (2020 Vintage)
"Intense, inky cabernet sauvignon with cassis, blackberry, cacao nib, cigar box/cedar wood, black olive and nutty oak flavours. A core of sweet fruit balances the wine's tannins making the wine more approachable in its youth although it appears to have plenty of cellaring potential. Good varietal definition although I can't help wondering if a blend of merlot might have added an extra dimension."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2020 Vintage)
"The classy, concentrated, very ageworthy 2020 vintage was matured in Hungarian and French oak barrels (29 per cent new), and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Deeply coloured, it is mouthfilling, with dense, ripe blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours, seasoned with nutty oak, refined tannins, excellent complexity and obvious cellaring potential. Best drinking 2027+."

Rated Outstanding & 95/100 Cameron Douglas MS, September 2023 (2020 Vintage)
"An expressive, bold yet slight understated bouquet focusing on the purity of fruit first with blackberry and roasted dark plum scents, baking spices with anise then toasty barrel notes with wood smoke and vanilla. Youthful, complex and quite powerful. As the wine open up in glass the scents and flavours begin to amplify with the lines between fruits and wine making beginning to blur. Don’t get me wrong this wine is taut, dry and very youthful with big tannins and a decent acid line, the core of fruit however soaks these characters up easily suggesting a wine that will age well. The lengthy finish and persistent flavours with its sound structure suggest a wine best drinking from 2029 through 2050."