Lake Chalice The Nest Merlot 2020
£12.95
The wine
Vibrant aromas of ripe blueberries mingle with subtle notes of mulled spice. The full and generous palate delivers a sweetness of ripe plum and forest fruits complemented by savoury overtones. Beautifully balanced and elegant on the finish.
A Merlot with a little Syrah, which is a Hawke's Bay pairing rather than a Marlborough one, since neither Bordeaux nor Rhône varieties ripen easily in the cooler South Island. Merlot gives the plum and blueberry flesh, and the small Syrah component adds the mulled-spice lift on the nose.
The producer
Lake Chalice
View all Lake Chalice winesLake Chalice was established in 1989, early in Marlborough's history, with the aim of making internationally recognised wine from the heart of the region. The estate's three vineyards lie in the Wairau and upper Awatere valleys, the two river systems that define Marlborough and that ripen quite differently from one another.
New Zealand's native falcon, the kārearea, appears on every bottle. It is a threatened bird, faster than a peregrine over short distances, and it favours the remote foothills where these vineyards sit. Some Marlborough growers have encouraged falcons back into the vines deliberately, since they keep smaller birds off ripening fruit far more effectively than netting.
The range is tiered by the falcon's life stages, which makes it unusually easy to navigate: The Nest for the everyday wines, then The Falcon, then The Raptor for the single-vineyard bottlings, and Plume at the top. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc runs through all of it, alongside Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and a little Riesling.
