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One of the closely guarded secrets which remained cardinal to the preeminence of Grange Hermitage, was the sacred tally of exceptional vineyards which were called on to provide fruit for the new world's most stately Shiraz. The elite Grange Growers Club is one of the nation's more exclusive fellowships, an illustrious canon of distinguished wine growing families which are the stuff of Australian viticultural history. One of McLaren Vale's most eminent dynasties, Oliver's of Taranga were an essential inclusion into many of the mighty Grange's most memorable vintages. Oliver Taranga's estate flagship HJ Reserve Shiraz represents peerless value for a wine of its provenance, power, persistence.. A principal part of the great grange»
Ken Helm A.M. received the Order of Australia for his work with Riesling, for his contribution to the Australian wine industry, for his support of cool climate wine producers and service to the Canberra community. Helm placed the Canberra region firmly on the map for world class wines after his inaugural 1977 release won significant international accolades. Ken's flagship wines are Riesling and Cabernet, he retains strong ties with eminent wine makers around the globe. Trips to the vineyards and wineries of Mosel, the Rhine valley and Bordeaux provide new inspiration and contribute to the development of his Canberra wines. In 2000 Ken instigated the Canberra International Riesling Challenge,.. Meet one of our nation's most peer respected winemakers»
Torbreck of Barossa are one of Australia's great export brands, synonymous with luxury and excellence throughout the world of wine. Crafted from the fruit of old and ancient vineyards, the opulence and exclusivity of Torbreck's painfully limited production challenge the primacy of Grange. Established by a share cropper in the 1990s, its precious range has risen to the status of First Growth amongst the community of ardent international advocates. Woodcutter is the entry level, assembled from parcels which may have been destined for some of the brand's lofty icons, an essential experience for all enthusiasts of compelling Barossa Shiraz... Chew a chop of woodcutter's wine»
Rockbare are raiders of precious but wayward vineyards, planted to outdated standards of viticulture, sadly unviable for large scale winemaking. These are however, precisely the nature of site that Rockbare choose to retain. Winemaker Tim Burvill worked at Wynns and Penfolds, where he refined his style alongside some of the best winemakers in the nation's history. Establishing his own label, he embarked upon a secret project to acquire parcels of prodigal Barossa vine. With a backbone of fruit grown to some of the oldest sites in Australia, much of Rockbare's fruit comes off vines a century or more of age. The intense power and complexity of Rockbare's resplendent range of wines are.. Precious & prodigal parcels of the barossa»

Villa Maria Private Bin Merlot CONFIRM VINTAGE

Merlot Hawkes Bay New Zealand
From fruit grown to closely husbanded vines on the Villa Maria estate property, at the outskirts of the eminent Gimblett Gravels precinct in Hawkes Bay. The vineyard has been managed to holistic principles of viticulture for many years, the quality of wine speaks for itself. Rather than relying on herbicides or pesticides, the focus is on enhancing soil health and yielding harvests of clean, natural grapes. Yields are kept limited to realize a quality of fruit that's concentrated and bursting with ripe natural sugars.
A minimalistic approach is employed throughout the winemaking process to complement what has been painstakingly achieved in the vineyard. Merlot grapes are destemmed and crushed into fermentation vessels. Fruit is pumped over and plunged several times daily for optimal extraction rich of colour, flavour and and just the right amount of gentle, soft tannins. Following the press and completion of malolactic, a component is transferred to a selection of seasoned French and American oak barriques for a year's maturation. Free range organic egg whites are employed to naturally soften the wine's tannins prior to filtration into bottle.
Deep crimson hues. The nose offers lifted ripe fruit aromas of blood plums and bramble along with dark chocolate oak. Vibrant red plum and berry fruits over subtle spice and cedar undertones. An abundance of dark fruit are paired with fine grained tannins to give a generous and rounded mouthfeel of great intensity and persistence. The full, textured palate and soft tannins make Villa Maria an excellent food wine.
Merlot
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Villa Maria
Its relative youthfulness not withstanding, the New Zealand based Villa Maria Group is establishing a reputation as one of the great wine companies of the world

Founded in 1961 and still operated by George Fistonich, Villa Maria has been New Zealand's leading wine award winner, both nationally and internationally since the early 1980's. Villa Maria's talented people have an unrelenting passion to produce quality wines.

Villa Maria

Realising that it takes more than just good winemaking to produce quality, a passion to succeed begins in the vineyard. Astute site selection by Villa Maria's vineyard experts, is followed by superior vineyard management and then complemented by expert winemaking. A strong focus on continually improving the vineyards is considered by Villa Maria to be an incredibly important factor in quality winemaking.

Vineyards have the highest of priority for Villa Maria whose team really does live and breathe the philosophy that it all starts in the vineyard. The grapes produced must be superb quality, as this is the essence of good winemaking. Villa Maria owns vineyards and sources grapes from contract growers from some of the best sites in three of New Zealand's leading grape growing regions; Marlborough, Hawke's Bay and Gisborne.

Villa Maria Estate has two state-of-art wineries in New Zealand. The largest is the new Auckland Winery and Vineyard Park. The Marlborough winery is based in one of New Zealand's premium grape-growing regions. The winery now crushes Villa Maria's Marlborough harvest from its vineyards and contract growers throughout the region. A new winery in Auckland was essential for Villa Maria to meet the increased domestic and export demand for wines and it has been designed to allow for long-term growth. Villa Maria also has 20 hectares of vines at the Auckland Winery site.

Villa Maria

As well as managing the company and publicly owned vineyard sites, Villa Maria's winemaking team work closely with contract growers. Villa Maria has a team of 80 dedicated contract growers in Hawke's Bay, Gisborne and Marlborough who grow grapes under the close guidance of the company’s vineyard experts. Villa Maria's viticulturists, based in all three regions, have one focus - to consistently deliver quality fruit that is physiologically ready, to the winemakers.

Villa Maria was named as one of the world's 50 great wine producers by Wine Spectator. Named New Zealand Wine Company of the Year at Australia's Winestate Wine Awards for the sixth time in seven years. New Zealand Wine Producer of the Year and Best Sauvignon Blanc Trophy - 2004 International Wine and Spirit Competitions in the United Kingdom. Trophy for the Most Successful Exhibitor at the 2004 New Zealand Wine Society Royal Easter Show for the third time in four years and winemaker Alastair Maling MW, collecting the Gold Medal for Champion Winemaker of the Show. This is the third time in four years Villa Maria winemakers have won the award. George Fistonich was also short listed as one of 50 prominent figures in the wine industry by UK Wine International Magazine, named New Zealander of the year by the prestigious National Business Review, and in the top ten New Zealanders by daily newspaper, The New Zealand Herald.

Villa Maria pioneered the development of specialist publicly owned vineyard companies in New Zealand with the setting up of Seddon and Terra Vitae Vineyards. Both companies own vineyards, which Villa Maria is contracted both to manage and source grapes from. Seddon was the first ever public vineyard company in New Zealand. Terra Vitae owns vineyards in Hawke's Bay and Marlborough. Many of the estate's Hawkes Bay red grape varietals are planted in company owned and managed vineyards in the area known as Gimblett Gravels. Now regarded as an appellation in its own right, Gimblett Gravels represents 34 wineries and winegrowers, including Villa Maria Estate. The area, which takes in the Gimblett Road, is defined both by location and by soil type. Vineyards in the Gimblett Gravels area have already produced numerous award winning red wines for Villa Maria.

Villa Maria