MEDIA RELEASE
21 July 2020
Saint Clair Family Estate is thrilled to announce their inclusion in the 2018 Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection with the Saint Clair Pioneer Block Cabernet Merlot 2018.
Gimblett Gravels Association members are invited each year to submit wines for consideration to be included in the top 12. Since its inception in 2006 Master of Wine, Andrew Caillard has been assessing each wine blind to showcase the best of the vintage. This is the second year Saint Clair Family Estate have been included in this prestigious selection having previously been selected in 2016. As with all Saint Clair Family Estate wines, these wines are selected via a unique quality assessment system
Family-owned Marlborough based winery, Saint Clair Family Estate, have been sourcing fruit from the highly regarded Gimblett Gravels winegrowing district for a number of years. In 2014 Saint Clair expanded their estate owned property through purchasing a vineyard in this region.
Andrew commented on the Saint Clair Pioneer Block Cabernet Merlot showing “dried roses, dark plums and graphite. Well concentrated supple wine with lovely dark plum, blackcurrant pastille flavours, fine chocolaty tannins, some dried roses, leafy complexity and underlying savoury oak. Finishes sinewy with plentiful sweet fruits. Characterful wine with surprising density and torque giving depth and length.” He also made particular reference to the Cabernet Sauvignon blends within the selection, “I enjoyed the pure blackcurrant pastille characters and fine grained/ al dente textures of the wines. The best wines were those that had a flowing line together with suppleness in structure.” Saint Clair Family Estate are thrilled to be selected from the 46 wines that were nominated and tasted blind.
The winemaking team are incredibly proud of the achievement – Senior Red Winemaker Kyle Thompson comments “this is another great accolade for a vineyard that is consistently producing wines of exceptional standard. It is a consolidated team effort of which we’re very proud.”
Consistency in quality in all facets of the business and throughout the entire team has led Saint Clair Family Estate to be recognised as one of New Zealand’s most successful global wine brands.
