MAN O’ WAR IRONCLAD 2024

Winery notes (2024 Vintage)
"The nose is deep and confident: blackcurrant, graphite, dark plum and cassis, layered with cedar, cigar box, bay leaf and a hint of sea spray. There’s a polished, savoury undertow; dried herbs, cocoa and crushed rock, that speaks clearly of both site and restraint. On the palate, the wine is seamless and commanding. Rich, dark fruits roll in first; blackberry, damson plum and black cherry, framed by fine, maritime tannins and a cool, mineral spine. Nothing sticks out. Nothing rushes. It’s all poise, balance and quiet authority. Oak adds structure rather than sweetness, lending notes of spice, toasted cedar and dark chocolate, while the acidity keeps the wine lifted and precise. The finish is long, dry and confident, fading out in layers of cassis, graphite and saline freshness. This is not a blockbuster it’s a battleship; powerful, composed and built to travel a long way. From a rare, small-yield vintage that delivered clarity, depth and longevity, Ironclad 2024 is what happens when everything locks into place. A wine that will drink beautifully young but will truly shine a decade from now.

Some seasons feel like a negotiation, 2024 felt like a handshake, delivering everything Bordeaux-inspired reds aspire to: balance, concentration and finesse. From budburst to harvest, Waiheke Island enjoyed a near-textbook run of warm days, cool nights and just enough stress to keep the vines honest. Yields were naturally low, berries small and intensely flavoured – producing some of our finest wines to date.

Fruit was hand-harvested from our dry-grown vineyards in steep, sheltered valleys, protected from the Pacific’s cooling influence. Each parcel was fermented separately with native yeasts in open-top fermenters over a 30-day vat period, allowing site character to shine. Following fermentation, the wines were matured individually in 500-litre French oak puncheons, undergoing natural malolactic fermentation and resting on gross lees for 18 months to build texture and depth. After extensive tasting and blending trials, the final blend was returned to oak for a further six months to harmonise structure and complexity before bottling."

Reviews for previous vintages below…

17+/20 Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson.com, August 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"The cooler vintage emphasises a fresh tomato-leaf aroma as well as blackcurrant fruit. Rounded and smooth with mocha and smoke on the finish, as well as a touch of boot polish. Savoury and complex. Drinking well now, but ageable for another decade."

Rated Outstanding & 95/100 Cameron Douglas MS, November 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"An excellent bouquet of power and concentration, dark plums and blackberry fruits, lots of baking spices, smoky wood and new barrel scents. There’s an enticement from the synergy of aromas along with and earthy stony quality adding depth and intrigue. Full-bodied, dry, plenty of tannins and acidity delivery a taut and very youthful mouthfeel. Fruit flavours remain at the core with dark skinned plums and blackberry, there’s also chocolate and brown baking spices, a lick of salt, a long finish and complexity. Best drinking from 2028 through 2038."

93/100 Stephen Wong MW, The Real Review, December 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"Austere with subtle flavours with cocoa and violet, plum and blackberry framed with drying oak and tannin on a broad and very ripe palate with spicy alcoholic warmth. Clenched and unyielding, this needs time to come together as it is really fiercely tannic right now and very chewy. Under the drying structure and alcohol is a core of violet and even some crunchy blackcurrant leaf which bodes well for the wine once it can overcome its hard shell."