Cameron Douglas: Esk Valley Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2022

Esk Valley Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2022, Hawkes Bay RRP from $24.99.   

From the Gimblett Gravels sub-regional GI of Hawkes Bay  

 

The Wine:

Great colour concentration leading to a bouquet of ripe dark red berry fruits, blackberry and roasted plums, a mix of sweet and bitter chocolate, cacao and baking spices. The wood smoke from use of barrel adds complexity and depth. Dry with an abundance of ripe tannins and plenty of acidity for bite and freshness, West drinking from day of purchase through 2030.  

  

The Food:  

Great with moderate to high protein foods – from lamb to beef and even some roast chicken. Red meat, say a steak, that is cooked medium-rare has a lot more available protein on the palate than say one cooked to medium-well, or well-done. The rarer the meat the bigger and younger a red wine can be – the protein in the flesh and any juice that might ooze from it soften tannins in the wine making it seem smoother or softer.  

The other consideration is the sauce and the seasoning: I don’t mean tomato sauce – though this is full of sugar and salt – I mean a reduction, a jus, or a cream=based sauce will all have a reaction with the wine.  

One piece of advice – if you have a chili meter from 1 to 10, 1 being the least heat and 10 being the hottest of hot, don’t add chili spices to the food that is intended to go with red wine beyond a 3 or 4 on the scale. Chili turns the volume up on tannin and alcohol perceptions in red wine and can easily disrupt the flavours within the dish.  

 

The season:  

2022 was a very good year for wines from Hawkes Bay. With a warm and dry winter, and the earliest veraison in 30 years. 

Then quite a bit of rain before 30+ degree days until harvest.  

The wines that I have tasted are balanced, complete and will age through to 2030 for most and 2035+ for the rest.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from NEWSTALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Fourteen two eleven on newstorgs 'B. It's wine time and
Master Samalier Cameron Douglas is here this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hey Cameron, Good morning Jack. Nice to be back.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, nice to be speaking with you. And your pick
for out Easter holiday weekend is an Esk Valley Mulbek
Cabinet Sevignon Merlow twenty twenty two is the vintage from
Hawks Bay retails for twenty four to ninety nine. So
tell us about the wine.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, this comes from part of Hawk's Bay that has
what's called a GI, a geographical indicator, and that means
that the boundary lines and the soil type are particularly special.
So when with an Esque Valley Cabinet Murlow planted on this,
it is a very special one because of just that

(00:58):
color and concentration that it has, and people who like
red wine will sort of get right into that big
dark RedBerry fruits and BlackBerry bouquet. But on the palate,
this is what makes the wine special. It has all
of this extra sort of secondary characters like bitter chocolate
and cacao and baking spices, and it's an absolute bargain

(01:22):
because it comes from a place that has guarded respect
from a lot of veneurons from around the world. It's
got complexity and depths, not too much tannin, and lots
of bite and freshness. It's really good.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
That sounds fantastic, Okay, twenty twenty two was a pretty
good year for wine from hawks Bay as well.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
A yeah, it comes on the back of a elevant
in twenty twenty one, and this nature has a way
of holding on to the previous vintage when it comes
to the wine world. And luckily for a place like
hawks Bay they got hammered in twenty three. Twenty twenty
two ended up being a rather special year, warm and dry.

(02:06):
In fact, they had color change in grapes the earliest
and thirty years in twenty twenty two, and what that
meant was a long growing ripening season. Here's the concentration
of the swine.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Oh so, pers So what would you match this with?

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Do you reckon well? I? In terms of food, you know,
this time of year, we're getting well into that autumn,
deep autumn winter type fair So, honestly, if you're having
something like a roast leg of land with lots of
rosemary and roast potatoes or any red meat that's you know, steak,

(02:46):
like keep it in that rear to medium cooking windows
so you've got a little bit more protein than What
that means for a wine like this is that those
those protein molecules and the juice and the meat rap
themselves around the tannins and the red wine, so it

(03:08):
makes the wine soft to smooth and more supple. And
this is you know, it's that juicy deliciousness that people
look for with the red and red meat and red
wine pairing.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, oh sounds so good, fantastic. Hey, thank you so much, Cameron.
So Cameron's picked for us this week and esk Valley
Melbourt Kevin your seven seven ye old Merlow twenty twenty
two from hawks Bay and we'll have all the details
up on the News Talks.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
He'd be website for more from Saturday morning with Jack Tame.
Listen live to news Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.