Making only four barrels, this is a new ‘Bridge Pa’ Reserve wine from Hancock and Sons, building a modern wine with all the best bits of the Hancock Snr past evident in it.
A bright, lemon yellow in the glass, greener towards the edges. On the nose is roast cashew, grapefruit, citrus blossom and caramel.
Rich and intense with lightly toasted spices, nectarine, melon and fig on the palate. The texture is profound – creamy and luscious and builds upon the low acidity to provide a silky, enveloping mouthfeel.
Complex, layered and full of interest – you’ll find plenty of vanilla oak, but finely balanced, as your tastebuds flit from one layer to the next – there’s filo pastry, warm baking spice and towards the finish is a drying, pithy element too.
Finely balanced, with line and power, and with structure to build for a long future, I’d recommend trying this again in a few years time – but get one to enjoy now – some of these 2019s are really showing their stripes already.
94pts. A Master at Work wine – combining the skills learnt in 50 vintages into a thoroughly ‘now’ Hawke’s Bay wine.
