Mills Reef Reserve 2007 Merlot-Malbec

*Bottle #74: Mills Reef Gimblett Gravels-Hawkes Bay Reserve 2007 Merlot-Malbec
*Price Tag: $17
*Running Tab: $1,050

Ever heard of Hawke’s Bay? Yeah, neither had I. Little did I know that Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s oldest wine region (roots back to 1851) and is home to over 80% of the country’s Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah vines. Considered the “center of gravity” for New Zealand wine other than Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s Bordeaux as Marlborough is its Burgundy.

The country itself is mostly on the map for Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, both notably from Marlborough, which a wine snob once told me is one of the five places on earth where Pinot Noir can grow “correctly” – he also included Oregon, California, Burgundy and South Africa.

More specifically than Hawke’s Bay is its subregion, Gimblett Gravels, which is highly ranked courtesy of its free-draining soil and higher temperature than the rest of Hawke’s Bay. Reason for the subregion’s name? The Gimblett Gravels soil of the vineyards. Tada!

Now known for Bordeaux-style blends and flourishing Syrah and Viognier vines, Hawke’s Bay also is supposed to produce killer Chardonnays, usually unoaked and full of citrus and stonefruit.

Rightly so, I received an order from my former wine club that introduced me to Mills Reef, a winery in Tauranga, with vines all throughout Hawke’s Bay.

Check out the grounds of their award-winning site of a winery here.

The selection was a blend of Merlot and Malbec, nearly in equal parts (51% to 49%, respectively), and talk about dark fruit. This juice as thick and inky, clinging to the glass with all 14% alcohol of its glory.

The nose was increasingly unique as it opened up, with aromas that literally took me by surprise. The spice was so distinct that it was as if a cinnamon stick was soaking in the glass, with dark and concentrated, ripe plum and blackcurrant, fleshy and lush with cedar and a gamey tone in the back.

It was so unrivaled that I could have just kept smelling it. And at first, I wished that was all I had done. Not that the palate was bad, it was just bland at first compared to the omnipotent perfume blasting over the rim.

Dark with stone-fruit and full of spice, the medium-bodied juice developed some acid, simple tannins and spiced oak after some time. The palate was oddly reminiscent of herbal berry-spice tea, mellow and calming with that ripe fruit and intense spice. Overall, it became a pretty nice little juice.

Enjoy now or enjoy in a few years but one thing I regret is not consuming this with figs and a lamb chop…

Score: 7.