Master of merlot

Grant Edmonds on his enduring love affair.

Grant Edmonds believes New Zealand winemakers often try to do too many things. At Redmetal Vineyards, he produces a trickle of classy albariño, rosé and syrah, but his key objective has always been to “make fine red wine – merlot-based”.

Edmonds, who first came to prominence as the winemaker at Esk Valley, was chief winemaker for the Villa Maria group from 1993 to 1995. Until 2018, he headed the winemaking team at Sileni Estates, but is now fully focused on running a much smaller venture, Redmetal Vineyards, where the first wines flowed in 1996.

The Redmetal vineyard, in the Bridge Pā Triangle, Hawke’s Bay, is named after its soil type: a thin cap of silt loam overlying gravels with a distinct reddish hue. The business is owned by Edmonds and his wife, Sue, Auckland lawyer Gary Simpson and other partners.

Edmonds has an enduring love affair with merlot, and on his website quotes approvingly drinks writer Don Kavanagh: “Merlot is one of the world’s most popular wines, so why doesn’t it get more respect?”

Merlot is typically generous, inviting and smooth. “Perhaps the problem is that it is not perceived as being challenging enough for the wine snobs,” says Kavanagh. “Merlot is often accused of making plain, pretty, two-dimensional wines that don’t perhaps require the same level of respect as pinot noir and cabernet, presumably because merlot rarely makes wines that are throat-cuttingly acidic or undrinkably tannic.”

In Hawke’s Bay, merlot accounts for more than half of the total redwine harvest. Edmonds likes bold, rich, lush reds made from very ripe grapes. You can taste that in his merlots and syrahs, too.

Redmetal Vineyards Basket Press Merlot/Cabernet Franc 2019 Powerful, yet deliciously wellrounded, this is a dark, sturdy red with generous blackcurrant, red-berry, plum and spice flavours, ripe, nutty and complex. Drink now and over the next decade. (14.5% alc/vol) $38

Redmetal Vineyards Basket

Press Syrah 2019

Still purple-flushed, this is a dark, fleshy, softly seductive red, with fresh, dense plum, spice and blackpepper flavours, a hint of liquorice and lovely richness, ripeness and harmony. (14% alc/vol) $40

Redmetal Vineyards Bridge Pā Triangle Syrah 2020

Delicious young, this dark, fullbodied, harmonious red has generous, well-ripened plum, spice and liquorice flavours that are rich and silky smooth. (13% alc/vol) $24 l