Stone Paddock Cabernet Franc is an outstanding red made by Paritua, one of Hawke's Bay's top producers of reds modelled on the best of Bordeaux. This gorgeous ripe Cabernet Franc is full of fragrant red fruity aromas and flavours of redcurrants, raspberries and spice, held together with supple tannins which dance across the mid palate of this wine. 

It's made from grapes planted on free draining red metal soils of the Paritua vineyard, an organically farmed single vineyard in the Bridge Pa Triangle Wine District of Hawke’s Bay. Vines here are managed with an open canopy to provide good airflow and exposure to sunlight, which aids ripening for this classic Bordeaux red grape variety. 

The wine was matured in seasoned French oak for 12 months followed by blending, fining and filtering just prior to bottling.

If you have ever wondered why an actor you’ve always admired seems to be perpetually cast in supporting roles and never lands the lead, it will be easy to relate to Cabernet Franc. One could argue that this seductive classic red could lord it over both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It is a parent of both of these better known grape varieties, but Franc tends to hang around the edges, adding its personality when needed with colour, depth and spice but rarely vying to be star. And yet, when it is allowed to shine, here is a grape and a wine to adore.

Smith & Sheth Cabernet Franc is made from the Howell Vineyard in Bridge Pa, Hawke’s Bay, and tastes of soft, smooth vanilla, impressive rich dark blueberries and blackberries. It’s one of those wines with great concentration and fantastic length, a full body that suggests fabulous potential to age, but who knows? How often do we get to taste aged Cabernet Franc, after all? Here’s a good reason to stash some under the bed for 10 years to find out. 

This wine is made from hand picked grapes grown in the Bridge Pa region of Hawke's Bay on silty clay soils that lie over free draining red gravel. The wine was aged in French oak for 12 months, 50% of which was new oak. It has great structure as a result and represents an outstanding expression of one of New Zealand's lesser known grape varieties, Cabernet Franc, which makes up just 93 hectares of the country's total vineyard area today - a drop of nearly 50% from 2000 when there were 161 hectares. A sad decline, despite the growing quality of wines made from this outstanding grape variety.

Plush, smooth and full of ripe red plum flavours, this wine is made with grapes grown a vineyard formed on the ancient riverbed of a river that once carried rock from the steep Ruahine ranges and deposited masses of free-draining gravel which is locally known as red metal. This is a plush wine from a very good vintage and punches well above its weight. Juicy ripe berry flavours from the Merlot are balanced by grunty darker earthy elements from the Franc.

Impressively juicy Cabernet Franc from Hawke's Bay winemaker Jenny Dobson, who has extensive experience making wine from this great grape in Bordeaux, France. She applies her knowledge and winemaking skills of wild yeast, whole bunches in the ferment and foot plunging (her own feet) to coax the best from this full bodied, deep purple Cabernet Franc.

It's named after her aunt Francie and made as a tribute to her. 

Dobson describes this wine has tasting of red roses, spicy raspberries and scented velvet. 

The 2018 Grand Amateur Merchant is a fresh, cool climate red made exclusively from one of Hawkes Bays most exciting Cabernet Franc vineyards - The Howell Family Vineyard. In the tradition of the finest barrel aged Loire Cabernet Francs where Sam worked for 6 years, this fresh, elegant and perfumed red will reward patient wine lovers for 8-9 years from the vintage. Blueberries, raspberries, Damson plums, dried thyme and background cedar notes from oak ageing.

APPELLATION: DHC - Villany wine region

SOIL: dolomite, marl, limestone or occasionally sandy loess

HARVEST: Lots of sunshine and the right amount of rainfall ..

GRAP VARIETIES: Cabernet Franc

WINEMAKING:
HUNGARIAN OAK: 63% aged for 24 months
HUNGARIAN BARRIQUE: 37% aged for 24 months

ORGANOLEPTIC SPECIFICATION
A darker shade of ruby. The nose is of a slightly Mediterranean character, rich in spices, forest fruits and discreet oaky notes. On the palate, dominating fruity characters with some toasty notes, which contribute to the richness of flavours in the wine. This is a wine full of flavours with a long aftertaste. Taste it with pleasure!

TECHNICAL DATA
ALCOHOL:14%
ACIDITY: 4.9 g/l

A darker shade of ruby. The nose has a slightly Mediterranean character rich in spices, vivacious and charming at the same time. Forest fruits and discreet oaky notes. When tasting, it is firm, still it has velvety texture. On the palate we can discover the dominating fruity character again along with some toasty notes, which contribute to the richness of flavours in the wine. A wine full of flavours with long aftertaste. Taste it with pleasure!

Violets, spice, chocolate and damson plum saturate the nose whilst the palate is rich and opulent giving loads of dark red fruits. The tannins give the wine plenty of structure, also providing longevity for many years to come. Gimblett Gravels Cabernet Franc at its peak. Drink now until 2030.

Winemaker's note:

"2015 was an exceptional vintage and the weather was consistent which allowed us to grow and ripen grapes to optimum quality. This blend is made of 72% Merlot, 20% Malbec and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon from grapes hand-picked off our Gimblett Vineyard (58%) and Triangle Vineyard (42%). 

After fermentation the wine was aged for 24 months in French oak (42% new), then blended and had a further 3 months on lees in tank. There was no racking which allow the wine to have great volume and weight.

This is a concentrated, medium to full bodied blend. With ripe blackberry and plum characters, fine grained tannins and a fresh acidity all giving the wine a wonderful balance. It will age well and improve for 10 years from vintage."

A cheeky ‘chilled red’. Born out of the heartbreaking 2023 vintage in Hawkes Bay, Franco is the lighter, textural iteration of our Howell Vineyard Bridge Pa Cabernet Franc.

Still wishing to support our growers and the region during this difficult time, yet understanding that our ‘house’ style of Cabernet Franc would not suffice, we decided to create a delicious, prettier, chilled version (12%) - ‘Franco’. Garnet in colour. Brimming with notes of earthy wild strawberries. The palate is highly textural, and soft, finishing with bucket loads of flavour and warmth. Serve chilled.

Howell Vineyard, Bridge Pa Hawkes Bay. Red metal soils, densly planted with 27 year old vines at 2315 vines /ha.

A very challenging season. A moderate spring and average temperatures for ripening. Several significant rain events occured toward the end of summer, and the wet conditions continued into Autumn.

The fruit was machine harvested and delivered to the winery. It was destemmed into a small open top fermenter. Once fermentation began, naturally, it was innoculated and plunged twice daily. After fermentation finished it remained on skins for a further week prior to being gently pressed off. It remained in both stainless steel and neutral oak for 8 months and was filtered prior to bottling. Bottled unfined.

TASTING NOTE 

Vibrant ruby red colour. with purple hues. Lifted aroma of redcurrants, cranberry, violet florals, leather and spice, hints of olive and chocolate flecks. It is young and a little brooding, slightly restrained, yet delicate.  A juicy and textural front palate is followed by plum, mouthcoating gravelly tannin that drives the length of the wine and mulberries dominating the mid palate. The wine opens up beautifully with time in the glass. A hint of savouriness and graphite bring yet more complexity. Made in a playful but serious style that suits a wide range of dishes or perfect on Its own. 

VINEYARD 

Cabernet Franc for this wine was sourced from 1988 plantings in the Isolation Ridge vineyard at Frankland Estate. The vineyard sits on an undulating northern and eastern facing slope on ancient duplex soils of ironstone gravel and loam over a clay sub-soil. It is certified organic farmed since 2009 and this is reflected in the depth and concentration of fruit flavours. The vines are trained on a Vertical Shoot Position (VSP) trellis system to enhance sunlight penetration of the canopy and optimize ripening conditions.  Cabernet Franc plays a huge role in our vineyard being the main component of our Olmos Reward, we find it suits our vineyard and region the best out of the Bordeaux varieties.

VINIFICATION 

Fruit was harvested in ideal conditions and fermented in shallow stainless steel open fermenters. The fruit is hand plunged to gently extract the tannin, keep the ferment as even as possible and maintain fruit purity. The wine is pressed off and aged on lees in 500L French oak puncheons and 1500L foudre for 10 months before bottling

WINEMAKING NOTES
This wine was made from grapes grown on the stony and sandy terrace of the vineyard. The grapes were fermented in open top tanks with inoculated yeast.  Gentle hand plunging was used for extraction, and the wine was then held on skins for an extended period of 4 weeks of post ferment maceration. The wine was then pressed and racked to French oak barriques where it was aged for 12 months. The final blend has a 30% new oak component and 30% second fill.

ANALYSIS
pH 3.69
TA 5.6g/l
Alcohol 13.0%

TASTING NOTES
A fragrant medley of crushed red berry fruits fills the nose, accompanied by scented oak spice, sweet vanillan notes and infused with delicate dried wild herbs. Juicy, concentrated, and full of bright raspberry and cherry fruit flavours, the palate is fleshy and textural, but well balanced with vibrant acidity and fruit sweetness, to give a long and expressive finish.

AWARDS
Silver Regional Aotearoa Wine Competition