Decibel Wines Giunta Malbec Nouveau 2019 (750ml)

 

Rated 90 Points by Bob Campbell

 

“Moderately dense malbec, with a bright ruby colour and plum, spice and crushed herb flavours.  A hearty, refreshing and very accessible red that's probably best enjoyed within a year or two of vintage.”

 

Wines of New Zealand

 

“Giunta” pronounced “Jun-TAH”, is the family name of Winemaker Daniel Brennan’s Sicilian Great Grandparents.  “Giunta” literally means a “Good Addition”, a name commonly given in the late Middle Ages to a long-awaited or much desired son.  The Giunta Family were hard working straight-forward and easy going people.

 

Giunta Malbec Nouveau 2019

 

This Malbec is a young Nouveau style red wine and is a “Good Addition” to the Decibel Wines Family.

 

Tasting Notes

 

For this lighter style, the Malbec colour is quite a dark purple.  The nose is fresh with deep electric violets, plums and hints of fresh dill, dusty tamarillo and fruit cocktail.  The front palate is lush with a punchy, bright mid palate.  The finish lingers with a bit of black currant, Rose hip that is very refreshing.  Overall the wine is soft up front, crunchy in the middle and bright and fresh on the finish.

 

Winemaking

 

Picked in early April the fruit was then destemmed and only lightly crushed to allow the skins to slowly breakdown during the fermentation.  The fruit was then cold macerated for 3 days on skins before slowly warming the 3 fermenters and allowing a wild fermentation to kick in.  Fermentation lasted 13 days before the wine was then macerated on skins again for an additional 15 days and which also allowed for full malolactic fermentation to take place on skins.  The wine was then pressed to tank and settled and again racked off its heavy sediment in early June.  In late June the wine was evaluated and the decision was made to release this wine for the spring as a ‘Nouveau’ Wine and bottled in mid July 2019.

 

Viticulture

 

Hawke’s Bay lies on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand.  The region enjoys dry summers with moderate, cool nights.  This wine reflects a single vineyard Malbec which was grown in the Bridge Pa Appellation on the Heretaunga Plains.  The soils are Silty-loam, free draining red metal of mixed alluvial and volcanic origin.  The wines tend to reflect more lush fruit and rounder tannins.  After a cool and rainy spring, the 2018-19 season was warm and dry with slightly lower cropping than normal, leaving intense and wonderful fruit.  It will go down in the books as one of the region’s best ever vintages.  There were three clones of Malbec (595, 1056 and Dr. Rod clones) grown on 4 different blocks around the Bridge Pa Triangle.

 

Rated 90 Points by Bob Campbell

 

“Moderately dense malbec, with a bright ruby colour and plum, spice and crushed herb flavours.  A hearty, refreshing and very accessible red that's probably best enjoyed within a year or two of vintage.”

 

Bob Campbell

 

Bob Campbell MW is a New Zealand wine specialist, author and educator.  He has been teaching a self-written wine diploma course since 1986, and has tutored over 20,000 students.  He has also judged professionally at wine competitions around the world, notably in New Zealand, England, China, France and the USA.

 

From a lifetime of tasting notes, Campbell has created a website (bobcampbell.nz) that specializes in wines from New Zealand and Australia, but also extends to those from Chile, France, Italy and South Africa.

 

Bob Campbell's 100 Point Wine Scoring System

 

96 – 100 – Absolutely Outstanding

93 – 95 – Excellent

90 – 92 – Very good

85 – 89 – Above average

80 – 84 – Average

78 – 79 – Sound, may represent good value

 

 

Decibel Wines

 

Journey to New Zealand…

 

In search of Adventure, Distinction and Character

 

Decibel Wines are the vision of Winemaker Daniel Brennan and are produced with some of New Zealand’s Best Wine Growers.

 

Could you taste a wine and feel inspired?  Could you smell a glass of wine and want to move to the other side of the world?  It happened to me when I discovered New Zealand wines.  My story and my wines are all about the people who inspire me, the places I've been and the music I love.

  

Decibel Wines are my vision to create wines using classic practices, minimal intervention, and wines with a community based attitude.  These are ideas as old as wine itself and I believe strongly in them.  However I look to the future as well.  I look at a time when we use smart practices in the vineyard and the winery that not only inspire but preserve our great planet.  I've had a great deal of help from many other winemakers, growers and friends in Hawkes Bay, Martinborough, and back home in the USA as well.

 

While traveling through Europe and America with a band of musicians, artists and craftsmen my passion for sense memory and sense elation grew.  While docked in Philadelphia I discovered New Zealand wines.  I literally smelled the potential for adventure and pure discovery in the glass.  
        

In 2007 I left Philadelphia to make wine in New Zealand.  I have taken the spirit of my Great Grandfather, Miguel Rodolico and his entire lineage, with me.  A barrel cooper and winemaker himself, he traveled from Sicily to America in search of inspiration.  He is with me on this journey.

 

As I follow maps of the roads, maps of the soils, maps of the seas, flight plans and future plans, the journey now brings me across the globe pouring my wines for people in hopes they will be open to the idea of an adventure.

 

I make Decibel Wines with honest and artistic people.  My aim is to bring you wines of distinction and the best expressions of this magical place.

  

Cheers,

 

dB