Church Road One Single Vineyard Malbec 2021

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit writes "It’s richly fruited and superbly aromatic on the nose with dark fruit intensity, smoked game, spicy oak and espresso notes, followed by a powerfully expressed palate that’s filled with ripe fruit flavours combined with spicy nuances, finishing sturdy and lingering. From the Gimblett Gravels district. At its best: 2025 to 2036."

Cameron Douglas MS writes "A powerful fruit centric beginning with aromas of blue and black fruits, chocolate and freshly roasted coffee bean, clove and vanilla pod, some anise, five spice and roasted Brazil-nut. There’s lift from the alcohol and plenty of barrel-sweet scents. Juicy, fresh, deeply fruity, salivating, ripe and powerful on the palate. Bold chewy tannins and plenty of acidity set a firm foundation for the core and richness of fruits and oak intensity. Flavours of clove and chocolate, vanilla and toasty barrel sit nicely alongside the core of fruits. Lengthy, complex and delicious with best drinking likely from 2028 through 2040. This is no training wine and will need the exact right food to calm the youthful energy, definitely some cellar time and a very large glass to draw from."

David Walker Bell, Wine Folio writes "A single vineyard wine from Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District in Hawke’s Bay. A deep, inky purple in the glass. Perhaps the most approachable of all the Single Vineyard ‘1’ series wines this release, the perfume is very fruit-forward. A complex, heady concotion, with black plum, blood orange, dutch liquorice, sour cherry and tobacco all melded together on the nose. Tighter and drier into the palate, where chewy tannin drags across the palate, and a briney, black olive tang broods under the fruit sweetness."

IWSC judges write "Dark and intensely jammy, with aromas of black fruit and a hint of menthol. The palate is concentrated and rich, with elements of blueberries and sweet vanilla spice."