Decibel Hawke's Bay Malbec 2018

A wine of character and one Daniel has been producing since 2009. Bursts of tamarillo, plums and spice and a vibrant finish. This wine has that bigger body that suits it towards the red meats or heartier dishes

Hawke’s Bay is located on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The region enjoys dry summers with moderate, cool nights. This wine reflects a single vineyard Malbec which was grown on the famous Gimblett Gravels appellation. The Gimblett Gravels is demarcated by specific soils laid bare from the constantly shifting Ngaruroro River over millions of years. The river’s last shift in 1867 left these amazing rocky soils, which combined with the slightly inland Heretaunga Plains’ weather, and classic viticulture techniques created a uniquely expressive Malbec.

This Malbec was grown on a BioGrow Certified Organic vineyard. The season was a bit wet in the spring and then a relatively warm and dry summer was followed by a late spike in heat in March and April, leading to dark, intense fruit. However, this vineyard is relatively late ripening to others in the Gimblett Gravels district.

Hand-picked in early April and transported in whole bunches from the vineyard to the close-by winery in small baskets. The fruit was then destemmed and only lightly crushed to allow the skins to slowly breakdown during the fermentation. The fruit was then cold macerated for 5 days on skins before slowly warming each of the 2-ton fermenters and allowing a wild fermentation to kick in. Fermentation lasted 17 days before the wine was then macerated on skins again for an additional 18 days. The wine was then pressed to tank before put into mostly neutral French oak puncheons (500-litre barrels) and with a small portion in neutral oak barriques and one new oak barrel (5%). The wine was aged for 21 months in barrel and then racked and prepared for bottling in late March 2021

If you told me I would be making so much Malbec in NZ before I left to come here, I would have been very confused. But this journey led me to this interesting grape almost immediately upon arriving here. And as it turns out, I’m known for making this now. And more and more I’m drawn to this style of wine I produce in the Decibel range. That is, a complex, aromatic red wine with interesting tannins and palette features while also not being too heavy and rich to that it makes for year round drinking. Some of this has to do with when I pick the grapes, but also not using much (or any) new oak or long aging in most vintages.