2014 Ngakirikiri Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
Following the vintage of a lifetime in 2013, along came another vintage of a lifetime: Hawke's Bay was starting to sound like Bordeaux. In 2014, it was slightly cooler but the conditions allowed Villa Maria to make its new flagship wine two years in a row. This displays a wonderful, silken texture; there's a sense of effortlessness as it glides quietly through your mouth. When it comes to aromas and flavors, expect classic but sweetly ripe Cabernet cassis and green capsicum with integrated oak-derived cedar notes adding complexity. Yields are tiny, reflected in the density within the elegant core. There's an abundance of resolved Cabernet tannins providing the frame for the delicate fruit. If you are lucky/wealthy enough to have a bottle of this and you were thinking about opening it soon, please don't: it is still an infant. It's a prodigious child but I'm sure it will be more satisfying in adulthood.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Dark cherries and cassis, chocolate, graphite and roasting herbs abound on the nose. This has such striking intensity and depth to the palate with dark-chocolate and black-cherry flavors, as well as dark-plum paste and a spicy thread, too. The length is impressive here. Great balance and drive. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
The impressive 2014 Ngakirikiri is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Pencil shavings frame notes of cassis liqueur in this medium to full-bodied wine that manages to be rich and creamy yet firmly structured and intense. It's downright embryonic at this stage, with layers of primary fruit, elegant French oak and a swirl of dusty tannins on the lingering finish. This luxury cuvée sets a new standard of excellence for Villa Maria.
The 2014 Ngakirikiri has a more powerful bouquet than the 2013, offering potent mocha- and espresso-infused black fruit, the wood influence not quite as well enmeshed as the 2014. The palate is medium-bodied, displaying grippy tannin and moderate depth, and more masculine than the 2013 and not as polished on the finish. Not a bad Cabernet Sauvignon by any means, but it feels a little formulaic, whereas the 2013 has a soupçon of panache.