Gimblett Gravels 2016: Vintage snapshot

Driving through Napier, a roadside billboard sported a glass of Tui beer alongside the slogan 'Pinot Nah'...

It was clever but flawed: when global advertising moguls Saatchi & Saatchi came up with the brewery campaign targeted at the Hawke’s Bay, they clearly hadn’t researched the varieties in the region – this is a land that has long said ‘nah’ to Pinot Noir in favour of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.

And that’s what you can expect from Hawke’s Bay’s Gimblett Gravels, a former river bed which is now home to prime vineyard land that you couldn’t give away 40 years ago.

The Annual Vintage Selection is a 12-bottle case of wines picked by Sydney-based Master of Wine Andrew Caillard to reflect the best of the season in Gimblett Gravels.

The 2016 vintage marks the ninth release in the series, which has provided a useful benchmark for charting the course of the vintages and the area’s evolution.

Gimblett Gravels 2016

The 2016 season took its time to get going but after a cool, late spring it was a case of better late than never. The summer hit its stride in January and the warmth kept on coming well into March, making 2016 one of the warmest in the past decade – on the heat summation scale it’s on a par with 2014 and 2009.

But let’s not get too excited: 1,430 Growing Degree Days (GDD) is still below the long-term average in this sometimes-marginal Cabernet climate – taste the cool 2012 vintage if you need liquid evidence.

In a global context, Gimblett Gravels’ heat summation over the season is closer to Bordeaux’s 1,387 rather than Napa Valley’s 1,883 GDD*.

Cabernet-Merlot blends came into their own in 2016, with Syrah making up just four of the 12 wines in the case – in 2012, there were seven. The wines in the case give an impression of elegance and freshness, mid-weight wines with a spine of mouthwatering acidity and abundant, ripe tannins.

Oak is also increasingly well handled, although there’s always room for improvement.

There’s a good diversity of blends (with Malbec and Cabernet Franc making a substantial contribution in some cuvées), and inevitably there is variation in quality but from this snapshot, 2016 would appear to be a much more successful Cabernet year for the Gravels than the unsettled 2015 season.

Ageability

It’s challenging to predict the drinking windows of these wines: unlike Bordeaux and the Rhône, there’s no historical precedent for wines made from vines of this age on the Gimblett Gravels.

An educated stab would suggest leaving the best Bordeaux blends until they’re at least four years old, and enjoy them over the following decade or more.

The Syrahs can be enjoyed from three to eight years old without any concerns, particularly when they’re sealed under screwcap.

Ultimately it’s your decision when to open these wines, but there’s never been a better time to go beyond New Zealand Pinot Noir and discover its other reds.

*Source: Anderson, J.D., et.al, 2012. Analysis of Viticulture region climate structure and suitability in New Zealand. J. Int. Sci. Vigne Vin, 46, n°3, 149-165

Tasting the Gimblett Gravels 2016 Annual Vintage Selection:

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