2006 was a dream
vintage in Martinborough for many of the producers there. Good fruit set
augured well for all varieties and a large crop was enabled. The Pinot Noir
growers have made beautifully ripe and healthy wines, as is evident by the
strong number of successes with their 2006 wines. Those with the later ripening
Bordeaux
varietals found the season a nail-biting one, as the weather began to pack up
with five days of rain starting 21 March. Bill Benfield and Sue Delamare,
having thinned their Merlot to push the ripening, picked immediately after the
first rain event on 26 March. The thick-skinned Cabernet Sauvignon withstood
the pressure and was picked in excellent condition on 12 April. With a relative
abundance of fruit, Benfield and Delamare were able to apply a ruthless
selection with their vintage, selecting only seven barrels for the premium wine
from the twelve made.
For the Benfield &
Delamare style, the wine is a bit of a beast with its dark colour, powerful
black berry and dark plum flavours, fleshy palate richness and significant
concentration. Still fresh and primary, the wine has a feel of rawness, but
underneath, the tannin extraction is fine-grained, and the wine is certain to
develop into one of grace in a few years time. Bill Benfield and Sue Delamare
are extremely pleased, seeing the wine as one of the best they have made. In
comparison with the refined, subtle and harmonious 2005, this new release is
bigger, bolder, more plush and juicy, with the ripeness of fruit as a feature.
The wine is 57.1% Merlot, 34.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8.6% Cabernet Franc, and
it spent 24 months in barrel, three of the seven barrels (42.86%) being new.
The seven barrels have yielded 175 dozen cases of wine. Benfield & Delamare
are truly of ‘garagiste’ proportions, making superb wine in micro-quantities.
This 2006 is a wine to snap up.RC Aug 08
