"Petit Verdot is a red grape that was traditionally reserved as a minor blending grape in the world famous Bordeaux wine blend. However, as the grape has spread to warmer climates, winemakers have realized that Petit Verdot can make intensely bold, fruity-yet-floral, red wines that can and do easily stand on their own . This wine is medium-bodied with good acid and a dusty, chalky finish. Try chilling it down a little."

--------THE PRODUCER--------

Abbey Estate

We believe there is a lot to be said for just loving wine. Loving the tradition, the process, the idea, the taste, the sight, the feeling, the sharing. The experience.
It was our love of wine that brought us to develop and run our own single estate family owned vineyard.In order to produce world-class ultra premium wine, we knew we had to find the perfect location to develop our dream. Coming from a ‘heartland’ background we already knew a thing or two about good land and how important it is in order to produce a quality product.In 2002, we found what we needed. Located in the red metal triangle of Bridge Pa, Hawke’s Bay, on 13 hectares of silted red metal soils, now sits a single estate winery, proud to be making some of the best wine New Zealand has to offer.The character of Bridge Pa Triangle soils lends strong exponents of blackberry, raspberry, and eastern spices, not to mention the influence of early ripening. This allows Abbey Cellars to deliver powerfully deep and rich reds with smooth tannins in a middleweight style that is barrelled in 100 percent oak.
The name Abbey Cellars was inspired by many years of travel and a penchant for the churches, cathedrals and abbeys of years gone by. For us the feelings invoked by these beautiful buildings of the past; beauty, mystery, tradition and romance, are not dissimilar to what we can draw from a fine glass of wine.Believing that a truly good wine captures all those elements and more, we felt it appropriate to marry the two concepts creating for ourselves, and our customers, a truly unique and complete wine experience.As winemakers we are careful to apply traditional methods in our winemaking process. We place huge importance on quality and each harvest our grapes are handpicked and then reselected to ensure only the highest quality grapes are used.

Grapes are ready only when they reach certain degree of ripeness (mixture of sugar and acidity levels) and our wines are aged in premium quality French Oak barrels. After extended aging, our wines are released to the market only when they are ready to drink.Like the traditional Abbeys of the past we are mostly self-sufficient, and as a single estate winery we use only what we grow ourselves, to create our fine wines.The Abbey Cellars winery building is housed on the same property as the vineyard itself and is a spectacular sight for anyone who visits the vineyard or the cellar door. A unique interpretation of a gothic abbey, the grand proportions evoke an authentic yet modern feel, while the views out over the vines complete its truly captivating ambience.The business itself is a family affair with both our daughter (Natarsha) and our son (Dermot) contributing to the success of Abbey Cellars. The family component of Abbey Cellars adds to our enjoyment of the business but also lends itself to our boutique brand. We take pride in every aspect of our wines, each one contributed by a member of the extended Abbey Cellars’ family.Many people ask us how we ever perceived running a vineyard and winery as a new start-up venture. Our answer is simple; Abbey Cellars is our love. Our commitment to what we love and our passion for fine wine makes every day extraordinary.The Abbeys of the world hold many secrets, as does our own here in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. We are careful to employ traditional winemaking techniques for each vintage; however we do have a few secrets of our own - secrets that will be passed from generation to generation of the Abbey’s winemakers, for years to come.Abbey Cellars - A divine drop!

--------THE GRAPE--------

Petit Verdot

This is one of the 5 red grape varieties of the famous Bordeaux region. It is hardly ever produced as a single-varietal wine but is usually blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

--------THE REGION--------

The Hawke's Bay

Hawke’s Bay is regarded as one of the warmer districts in New Zealand for wine growing, however, by world standards it is still considered a cool climate for varieties such a Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Hawke's Bay has developed a reputation for producing rich and elegant red wines, full flavoured and creamy chardonnays and aromatics with ripe tropical fruit characters. There are several sub regions within Hawke’s Bay that range from cooler coastal areas at Bay View, Meeanee, and Te Awanga, to the hot inland stoney regions of Gimblett Gravels and Bridge Pa, through to river terraces alongside one of the three rivers that flow through and have help create the Heretaunga plains.

The strength of Hawke’s Bay as a wine growing region is its diversity. Under the overarching warm and dry macro climate are the cooler coastal sub regions - influenced by the sea breezes that keep the vine canopies cool and allow for long slow ripening periods that let the grapes pick up a maximum range of flavours through each varietal spectrum. The hot and dry inland areas of Gimblett Gravels and Bridge Pa with their stony soils allow for growers to get maximum ripeness from varieties that have evolved in the continental climates of Europe but have found a home here and thrive.

River terraces are prominent throughout this region and have greatly influenced the alluvial soils of the Heretaunga plains. Regarded as the fruit bowl of New Zealand, the Heretaunga Plains offers all horticulturists in the region with the variety that can be seen with wine growing. Pip fruit, stone fruit, berry fruit, kiwi fruit and vegetable growing are all prominent in this region, where the soils and micro climate suits, and wine growing is no exception.

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