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Villa Maria Cabernet Sauvignon Ngakirikiri 2018 750ml

size
750ml
country
New Zealand
region
Hawkes Bay
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
Image of bottle
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Villa Maria Cabernet Sauvignon Ngakirikiri 2018 750ml

SKU 884642
Case Only Purchase
Long-term Pre-Arrival
$497.34
/case
$82.89
/750ml bottle
Quantity
min order 6 bottles
* 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

By far and away the most recognized and widely grown red wine grape varietal in the world is the Cabernet Sauvignon. First cultivated in the 18th century in France, this wonderful cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc grapes has long since been the most important varietal for red wines across the globe. Now grown everywhere from its native France to the furthest reaches of the New World, Cabernet Sauvignon is adored and prized by wineries for its hardiness and resistance to rot, as well as its large and sharp flavors and wonderful capability for fine aging Indeed, many of the finest wines of history and the modern age would be simply unimaginable without Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, with the famed wineries of Bordeaux and other important regions using it as the primary grape in their oak aged produce. High tannin levels, acidity and powerful flavors are the characteristics most commonly associated with this varietal, however, when blended and slowly aged, it is capable of a world of flavors and aromas unmatched by any other grape.
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

New Zealand has consistently impressed over the past few decades, with many proclaiming this southern country as being the 'pearl' of the New World wine locations. One of the key attributes of New Zealand wines is their wonderful fruit-forward flavors, which make them a favorite with newcomers to wine, as they manage to be deliciously drinkable without posing many challenges. That isn't to say there is little complexity or interesting features to their wines, as one can easily discover through the fantastic range of wines available – from smoky and mineral rich Sauvignon Blancs, to juicy and plummy Pinot Noirs and the beautiful Bordeaux style wines sourced from the excellent Auckland region. New Zealand wineries clearly have a dedication to quality alongside quantity, and such zeal and expertise is quickly helping them become established as world leaders in regards to both domestic sales and exported wines.
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Winery Villa Maria
green grapes

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

By far and away the most recognized and widely grown red wine grape varietal in the world is the Cabernet Sauvignon. First cultivated in the 18th century in France, this wonderful cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc grapes has long since been the most important varietal for red wines across the globe. Now grown everywhere from its native France to the furthest reaches of the New World, Cabernet Sauvignon is adored and prized by wineries for its hardiness and resistance to rot, as well as its large and sharp flavors and wonderful capability for fine aging Indeed, many of the finest wines of history and the modern age would be simply unimaginable without Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, with the famed wineries of Bordeaux and other important regions using it as the primary grape in their oak aged produce. High tannin levels, acidity and powerful flavors are the characteristics most commonly associated with this varietal, however, when blended and slowly aged, it is capable of a world of flavors and aromas unmatched by any other grape.
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

New Zealand has consistently impressed over the past few decades, with many proclaiming this southern country as being the 'pearl' of the New World wine locations. One of the key attributes of New Zealand wines is their wonderful fruit-forward flavors, which make them a favorite with newcomers to wine, as they manage to be deliciously drinkable without posing many challenges. That isn't to say there is little complexity or interesting features to their wines, as one can easily discover through the fantastic range of wines available – from smoky and mineral rich Sauvignon Blancs, to juicy and plummy Pinot Noirs and the beautiful Bordeaux style wines sourced from the excellent Auckland region. New Zealand wineries clearly have a dedication to quality alongside quantity, and such zeal and expertise is quickly helping them become established as world leaders in regards to both domestic sales and exported wines.