Frenchmans Hill Estate Blood Creek Red Blend 2014, Waiheke Island
Youthful fruit and wood centric bouquet with (quite) intense aromas of fresh blackberry, blue fruits and dark plums, tobacco and dark violets, clove and toasty wood aromas. Complex and youthful, toasty and rich. Vibrant, toasty, woody and fruit centric on the palate. Very rich in fruit flavours of dark berries, blackberry and black currant, sweet tobacco and cigar box. Tannins are a mix of firm and youthful, dusty and soft - so still melding into and with the rest of the palate flavours. Acidity is medium+ keeping the palate crisp and alive. There’s no mistaking the warming effect of the alcohol, but this is more than matched by the core of fruit and overall power of the wine. Well made, youthful still, decant for service remains a food wine. Best drinking from 2021 through 2029.
94 Points
Varieties in this wine are listed on the back label as - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Tannat, Syrah, Viognier and Kolor.