• French oak
• Wild berries
• Subtle spice
• Fine tannins

"It's beautifully styled and complex on the nose with dark plum, spicy oak, subtle tobacco, olive and rich floral aromas. The palate delivers excellent weight and plump mouthfeel, wonderfully supported by silky texture and polished tannins. Generous and flavoursome with a lengthy satisfying finish. At its best: now to 2031" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2023

"Savoury, medium-bodied red with grape stem, dried herb, blackberry, vanilla, and spicy oak flavours. Subtle wine with an appealing, lingering finish. Moderate cellaring potential but surprisingly accessible now" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jun 2023

Deep purple in colour, sumptuous aromas of wild berry compote and spice evolve from the glass and hints of anise and cedar appear as the wine opens. The palate is full bodied with toasted oak underpinning the notes of vibrant red fruit. The wine is mouth-filling and expansive, complete with fine tannins and a long, lingering finish. The Invivo 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon will continue to provide joy for ten years.

The Mere Road vineyard is located in the northeast of the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District. The extremely stony soil is responsible for delivering the famed bright fruit and minerality that enable wines from the region to have great focus and longevity. The region was formed geologically as an alluvial flood plain as part of a large, braided river system originating from the Ngaruroro river and later the Omahu channel. The soils are typically limited in topsoil and organic matter and are essentially unencumbered gravel beds allowing the vine roots to grow extremely deep to find water in dry seasons. These conditions allow the vine to exist in a perfect status of stress which causes it to produce the highest quality fruit.

2021 was an excellent Hawke’s Bay season. Attractive growing conditions and stable weather provided the perfect environment for growing Cabernet Sauvignon. The warm days and cool nights enabled perfect ripeness and ‘hang time’, which gave great stalk development therefore enhancing the tannic structure of the wine.

Hand selected bunches were harvested from Hawke’s Bay in late April 2021 and transported to our historic Te Kauwhata winery in the Waikato. The fruit was gently destemmed into small twotonne fermenters and left to soak on skins until natural-wild- fermentation ensued. The must was hand-plunged daily for two weeks, then left to macerate post-fermentation for a further two weeks. The resulting wine was gently drained, and the skins lightly pressed to tank to settle for one week. The young wine was then put to barrel in 100% new French oak - Bordeaux style - for 15 months, with regular rack and returns at three-month intervals. Finally, the wine was gas pumped to tank, settled, and bottled unfiltered and unfined.