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Villa Maria Cabernet Sauvignon Ngakirikiri 2018 750ml

size
750ml
country
New Zealand
region
Hawkes Bay
5 Ratings
See 5 Professional Reviews
DC
97
VM
95
WE
95
WA
94
JS
94
Additional vintages
2019 2018 2014 2013
DC
97
Rated 97 by Decanter
Dark purple hues with an opaque appearance leading to aromas of concentration, power and finesse. Immediately captivating with scents of dark berries and brooding complexity. Iron and blackberry, crushed violets and spicy skinned plums. Toasty barrel scents suggest clove and baked vanilla pod, smoke and sweet wood moments. Compact, taut and delicious on the palate with flavours of dark berries and barrel spices, violets, stony soils and a savoury spice and tobacco edge. There’s a satin polish to the tannins, an abundance of acidity and additional flavours of bell-pepper and toasty baked goods. Lengthy, complex and very appealing. A wine that showcases everything that is exciting about Hawkes Bay. ... More details
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Villa Maria Cabernet Sauvignon Ngakirikiri 2018 750ml

SKU 884642
Case Only Purchase
Long-term Pre-Arrival
$505.14
/case
$84.19
/750ml bottle
Quantity
min order 6 bottles
Add to Cart
* This is a Long-term Pre-arrival item and is available for online ordering only. This item will ship on a future date after a 4-8 months transfer time. For additional details about Pre-arrival Items please visit our FAQ page.
Professional Ratings
DC
97
VM
95
WE
95
WA
94
JS
94
DC
97
Rated 97 by Decanter
Dark purple hues with an opaque appearance leading to aromas of concentration, power and finesse. Immediately captivating with scents of dark berries and brooding complexity. Iron and blackberry, crushed violets and spicy skinned plums. Toasty barrel scents suggest clove and baked vanilla pod, smoke and sweet wood moments. Compact, taut and delicious on the palate with flavours of dark berries and barrel spices, violets, stony soils and a savoury spice and tobacco edge. There’s a satin polish to the tannins, an abundance of acidity and additional flavours of bell-pepper and toasty baked goods. Lengthy, complex and very appealing. A wine that showcases everything that is exciting about Hawkes Bay.
VM
95
Rated 95 by Vinous Media
The third vintage of Villa Maria's flagship Cabernet (the others being 2013 and 2014) and the first in its new winery (the vintage's first grapes were picked while contractors were still on site). This has great concentration of fruit while remaining elegant and fresh. While the fruit is ripe with its dark black fruit, licorice and black olives, it still retains a green herbal character as if to remind you that this is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon. The tannins build cumulatively, and while they are resolved, they are very much Cabernet-shaped, creating a square framing the rather delicate core. This is really classy stuff, as it should be at the price. Perhaps not as long-lived as the 2014 will be, but a decade or more in the cellar won't hurt.
WE
95
Rated 95 by Wine Enthusiast
Villa Maria's top red, a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant Bordeaux blend, is named for the Maori word for gravel, referring to its famed Gimblett Gravels soils. This is a wine made for the long haul although even now, with ample time open in bottle or decanter, reveals finesse and character. The fruit is dark and fleshy with a spine of leafy green herbs, violet, tomato stem and baking spice. The palate is satiny yet toned and elegant, with linear, taut tannins, and currently quite a lot of oak influence. A worthy addition to any red-lover's cellar. Drink 2025–2045.
WA
94
Rated 94 by Wine Advocate
The 2018 Ngakirikiri is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot and 2% Malbec, all aged in 60% new French oak for 20 months. Despite the barrel regime, the concentrated fruit easily comes through, offering up pristine aromas of cassis and plum, later accented on the finish by hints of dark chocolate and vanilla bean. Richly concentrated and velvety in texture, with a long, plush finish, this medium to full-bodied wine should drink well for over a decade.
JS
94
Rated 94 by James Suckling
Aromas of ripe blackberries, blackcurrants, plum leaves, milk chocolate and lavender. It’s medium-bodied with fine, supple tannins. Fresh and creamy. Delicious finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
Winery
Upon pouring, this deep ruby coloured wine yields notably intense and pure aromatics of cassis, complex wood spices and floral violet scents, with fragrant dried thyme, graphite and clove nuances also vying for attention. Layers of concentrated flavours are revealed across a medium to full bodied frame, with optimally ripe fruit and hints of black olive and cigar, all wrapped by fine-grained tannins and supportive oak, enhancing texture and richness from start to finish. This age-worthy and age-worthy wine will benefit and gain additional complexity from careful cellaring over the next 15-20 years.
Product Details
size
750ml
country
New Zealand
region
Hawkes Bay
Additional vintages
2019 2018 2014 2013
Overview
Dark purple hues with an opaque appearance leading to aromas of concentration, power and finesse. Immediately captivating with scents of dark berries and brooding complexity. Iron and blackberry, crushed violets and spicy skinned plums. Toasty barrel scents suggest clove and baked vanilla pod, smoke and sweet wood moments. Compact, taut and delicious on the palate with flavours of dark berries and barrel spices, violets, stony soils and a savoury spice and tobacco edge. There’s a satin polish to the tannins, an abundance of acidity and additional flavours of bell-pepper and toasty baked goods. Lengthy, complex and very appealing. A wine that showcases everything that is exciting about Hawkes Bay.
green grapes

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

Since their conception in 18th century France, Cabernet Sauvignon grapes have flourished across the Old and New Worlds and have changed the way we think about red wine forever. Their sharp and astringent nature has a wonderful ability to mellow and round with age, and when helped by being blended with Merlot and Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc varietals – as is done in Bordeaux and elsewhere – the results can be truly remarkable. What is most special about Cabernet Sauvignon grapes is the fact that they have a true affinity for oak, and when aged in barrels made of this fragrant wood, the wine which comes out of them a few years later holds an amazing array of flavors and aromas, making Cabernet Sauvignon based wines some of the most memorable in the world. Single variety bottles from the New World made from this grape are also increasing in popularity, as the strong flavors and full-bodied nature of these wines is a great match for many global cuisines.
barrel

Region: Hawkes Bay

Hawkes Bay in northern New Zealand has long been recognized as one of the country's most important wine regions, and is generally understood to be the birthplace of the New Zealand wine industry in the mid nineteenth century. Since the first vines were planted in this beautiful part of the country, the wine industry of New Zealand has gone from strength to strength, and is now a major world player on the international wine scene. Many of the country's flagship wines hail from Hawkes Bay, where historic wineries have been producing superb wines made from the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes which flourish there for over a hundred and fifty years, and which ripen under the hot sunshine and in the mineral rich soils which typify the region.
fields

Country: New Zealand

When it comes to New World wines, few countries can compete with Europe quite as well as New Zealand, where modern techniques and technologies are allowing wineries to get the very best results from the wide range of imported grape varieties which flourish there. The warm, sunny climate coupled with brisk oceanic winds and remarkably fertile volcanic soils produce grapes of exceptional quality, and New Zealand wines are notable for their ability to carry the terroir they are grown on into the bottle. Whilst the Sauvignon Blanc wines are probably the most widely exported and popular to come out of new Zealand, fantastic results have been produced from the Bordeaux style wines made in the Auckland region, and the Pinot Noir wines of Central Otago. These Pinot Noir wines are far more fleshy than their Burgundy counterparts, and are probably best enjoyed when young, and bursting with the fruit flavors they carry so well.
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews

There have been no reviews for this product.

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More Details
Winery Villa Maria
green grapes

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

Since their conception in 18th century France, Cabernet Sauvignon grapes have flourished across the Old and New Worlds and have changed the way we think about red wine forever. Their sharp and astringent nature has a wonderful ability to mellow and round with age, and when helped by being blended with Merlot and Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc varietals – as is done in Bordeaux and elsewhere – the results can be truly remarkable. What is most special about Cabernet Sauvignon grapes is the fact that they have a true affinity for oak, and when aged in barrels made of this fragrant wood, the wine which comes out of them a few years later holds an amazing array of flavors and aromas, making Cabernet Sauvignon based wines some of the most memorable in the world. Single variety bottles from the New World made from this grape are also increasing in popularity, as the strong flavors and full-bodied nature of these wines is a great match for many global cuisines.
barrel

Region: Hawkes Bay

Hawkes Bay in northern New Zealand has long been recognized as one of the country's most important wine regions, and is generally understood to be the birthplace of the New Zealand wine industry in the mid nineteenth century. Since the first vines were planted in this beautiful part of the country, the wine industry of New Zealand has gone from strength to strength, and is now a major world player on the international wine scene. Many of the country's flagship wines hail from Hawkes Bay, where historic wineries have been producing superb wines made from the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes which flourish there for over a hundred and fifty years, and which ripen under the hot sunshine and in the mineral rich soils which typify the region.
fields

Country: New Zealand

When it comes to New World wines, few countries can compete with Europe quite as well as New Zealand, where modern techniques and technologies are allowing wineries to get the very best results from the wide range of imported grape varieties which flourish there. The warm, sunny climate coupled with brisk oceanic winds and remarkably fertile volcanic soils produce grapes of exceptional quality, and New Zealand wines are notable for their ability to carry the terroir they are grown on into the bottle. Whilst the Sauvignon Blanc wines are probably the most widely exported and popular to come out of new Zealand, fantastic results have been produced from the Bordeaux style wines made in the Auckland region, and the Pinot Noir wines of Central Otago. These Pinot Noir wines are far more fleshy than their Burgundy counterparts, and are probably best enjoyed when young, and bursting with the fruit flavors they carry so well.