Description: Verdelho is a traditional and famous variety from the Portugese Island of Madeira where for many centuries it was used in the production of fortified wine. Esk Valley has been New Zealand’s pioneer of this variety, producing a dry style Verdelho from our Hawkes Bay vineyards since 2002. This is a full bodied and dry style wine, rich but with a fresh acidity. Aromas and flavours of peach, musk and orange citrus predominate with a grapefruit like acidity providing length.
Jancis Robinson: Tasted Feb 2010 - Some hazelnut and white melon aromas. Plenty of spice and structure but this feels more like winemaking than fruit. (TC)
Jamie Goode, wineanorak.com, 88pts ( 2006) - "The only Verdelho in New Zealand, this comes from two different vineyards. Bright, aromatic and herby with some sweet honeyed notes and minerality. The palate is broad and rich textured with nice softness and good acidity. Almost Alsace-like, with a hint of sweetness."
Tom Cannavan, wine-pages.com ( re 2007) - "Verdelho is a Portuguese variety most commonly found in the driest styles of Madeira wines, but it is quite widely planted in Australia where it makes aromatic, dry whites. Less common are New Zealand examples, but this one from the hot Hawke's Bay area on the North Island is a notable exception. The nose has quite powerful, leesy notes of pear skin and straw, with waxy lemon rind and just a hint of toast. On the palate there's a mouth-filling rush of ripe, sweet-edged tropical fruit, with nectarine and melon flavours, and a broad, citrus acidity in the finish. I found this just a touch phenolic, and for me it would need food."
Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, 16+/20 ( 2007) - "Some honey-tinged fruit on the nose here, although overall it is rather restrained. Full, with an appealing weight on the palate, a touch stony, and rather perfumed. Textured, almost creamy, with a nice bitter-pepper backbone. This wine has a good presence."
Vinification: This Verdelho is a blend of two Hawkes Bay vineyard sites. The now 11 year old vines in our stony Omahu Gravels Vineyard provide the wine with a mineral infused note and flavours of orange citrus. The Joseph Soler Vineyard on more fertile silty gravels produces a richer and fuller wine style with flavours of tropical fruit. Both vineyards are intensively managed and cropped at low yields. The fruit was hand picked and whole cluster pressed, then fermented in both tank and aged French oak barriques. The wine in barriques was fermented with indigenous yeasts and left on lees till blending and bottling, while the portions in tank were cool fermented with selected yeast strains to capture the clean vineyard derived aromatics and flavours.
