150 Church Road,
Taradale,
Hawke's Bay
New Zealand
Ph: +64 6 844 2053
Fax: +64 6 844 3378
info@churchroad.co.nz
©2006
Privacy Statement
Copyright Statement
With the Church Road Cuve series, our winemakers extend our varietal and winemaking boundaries to craft exciting wines with unique characteristics. These experimental wines often lay the groundwork for stylistic shifts in our more mainstream wines. The range is named for the traditional large oak vats (cuves) that we first imported from France into New Zealand.
Latest vintages of Church Road Cuve series Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are available at fine wine stores, with the others in the range available as limited release wines at our cellar door only.
This wine combines the concentration of ripe, low-yielding fruit with the balance and elegance that comes from traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques to produce a wine of subtlety and finesse. Elegant aromas of citrus blossom and nectarine are complemented by light background oak and elements of yeast and mineral complexity. On the palate, the wine has a soft and gentle mouth-feel, resulting from the whole-bunch pressing of the grapes, and features a balance of fruit, oak and fermentation flavours. The finish is both refreshing and lingering.
Vintages: 1994, 1995, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006
Introducing the first vintage of Church Road Cuve Hawke's Bay Pinot Gris. It is produced in a rich concentrated style. The key to this wine is hanging the fruit late on the vine and allowing it to shrivel slightly before harvest. As well as increasing the concentration of the wine, this seems to accentuate some of the more expressive floral and spice notes of the variety.
Vintages: 2007
A serious, multidimensional wine in a classic Bordeaux style. Over the last few years, we have sourced more and more fruit from the warm low vigour soils in the south western Heretaunga Plains, in particular in the Gimblett Gravels and The Triangle sub-regions of Hawke's Bay. The warm meso-climates and light, stony soils give low crops of concentrated, fully ripe, fragrant fruit that produces classically structured wines with power, elegance, fragrance and finesse.
Merlot at its best should be a seductive wine, with rich, dark plummy fruit, fragrant floral notes and a rich, mouth-filling and supple palate. Over the last few years, we
have sourced more fruit from the warm, low-vigour soils in the south-western Heretaunga Plains, in the Gimblett Gravels and Red Metal Triangle sub regions of Hawke’s Bay in particular. The warm meso-climates and light, stony soils give low crops of concentrated, fully ripe, fragrant fruit that produces classically structured
wines with power, elegance, fragrance and finesse.
Possibly the only wine of this variety you will find in New Zealand.
Marzemino is rare even in its home country of Italy. Predominantly grown in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of north eastern Italy, the variety there produces deeply coloured, spicy wines.
Vintages: 2005
This Rhône-style Syrah was grown on the low-vigour red-metal soils of our Redstone vineyard in the Ngatarawa district. Ripe fruit was hand harvested and sorted before being crushed to one of our French oak cuves, where fermentation was completed. After three weeks on skins, the wine was drained off and filled to new and one-year-old French oak barriques for maturation. This medium-bodied wine is full of fragrant fruit and gamey complexity. On the nose, a core of dark berry fruit is overlaid with fragrant violet and spice characters, while savoury oak and gamey notes add complexity and richness. The palate is supple with soft, ripe tannin and good length of both texture and flavour.
Vintages: 2004
This is the first Viognier we have produced at Church Road, a grape variety originally from the Northern Rhône valley in France, where it produces the sought-after wines of Condrieu. True to style, this rich wine was hand harvested from our Ngatarawa vineyard and vinified using traditional winemaking techniques. It has aromas of spice, honeysuckle, pear and dried apricot, with subtle mealy, savoury complexity. This is a delicious full-bodied wine with great mid-palate concentration and length of flavour that echo the aromatics.
This is a rich, ripe and expressive Malbec showing the very best characteristics of this traditional Bordeaux variety. Crafted from ripe, low-yielding Malbec from our premium vineyards in Hawke's Bay and using traditional Bordeaux winemaking techniques, this premium red wine presents a complex array of violet, spice and black fruits aromas, complemented by toasty French oak. The palate is rich and succulent, supported a firm backbone of strong, ripe tannin.
This serious Sauvignon Blanc is quite unlike most others made in New Zealand, and has more in common with the savoury, textural white wines of Bordeaux. Hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed, the fruit was a selection of the very best available from the vintage. The subtle aromas speak of ripe fruit and nutty aromatics, with clover honey and ripe fruit coming through on the palate. This is definitely a wine for those who appreciate complexity and texture over simple fruit. It is very full-bodied for a Sauvignon Blanc, with low acid and great textural length.
Top of page