Woodside Hill Winery

The Emile

The Emile is our second tier wine. Value for money every day drinking. The grapes for this wine have all the same quality and effort as for our reserve, in fact the wine comes from the same ferments. The only difference is that this wine is from the lesser barrels of the vintage, or from lesser vintages. Often between 15% and 25% new oak

Reviews and Awards

Vintage 2015 Michael Coopers New Zealand Wine Guide 2021 4 1/2 Stars
"Full coloured, with a fragrant, ripely scented bouquet. It is a sturdy red with very ripe, plummy, spiy, nutty flavours showing good complexity. Delicious now"
Vintage 2012 Michael Coopers New Zealand Wine Guide 2014 4 Stars
“It’s a generous, soft red, full-coloured with excellent depth of blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours, showing good complexity, and plenty of drink young appeal. Priced right”

Vintage 2018

The Emile was made from 56% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately whilke Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 30C. The wine was then left on skins for a further 7 days. The wines were then moved to fine grained french oak, 30% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 8 months. Barrel selection and blending was performed in January 2019 and the blended wine moved back to barrel for another 4 months. The wine was bottle aged for 2 years before release

Vintage 2016

The Emile was made from 55% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately whilke Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 30C. The wine was then left on skins for a further 7 days. The wines were then moved to fine grained french oak, 30% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 8 months. Barrel selection and blending was performed in January 2017 and the blended wine moved back to barrel for another 4 months. The wine was bottle aged for 2 years before release.

Vintage 2015

The Emile was made from 86% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately whilke Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 30C. The wine was then left on skins for a further 7 days. The wines were then moved to fine grained french oak, 17% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 8 months. Barrel selection and blending was performed in January 2016 and the blended wine moved back to barrel for another 4 months. The wine was boittle aged for 2 years before release.

Vintage 2014

The Emile was made from 68% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately whilke Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 30C. The wine was then left on skins for a further 7 days. The wines were then moved to fine grained french oak, 33% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 7 months. Barrel selection and blending was performed in November 2014 and the blended wine moved back to barrel for another 5 months. The final blend was from 17% new oak.

Vintage 2013

The Emile was made from 75% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. A perfect year gave us the opportunity to blend with freedom. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately whilke Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 30C. The wine was then left on skins for a further 7 days. The wines were then moved to fine grained french oak, 33% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 7 months. Barrel selection and blending was performed in November 2013 and the blended wine moved back to barrel for another 5 months. The final blend was from 17% new oak.

Vintage 2012

The Emile was made from 73% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately while Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 30C. The wine was then left on skins for a further 7 days.The wines were then moved to fine grained french oak, 33% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 10 months. Barrel selection and blending was performed in February 2013 and the blended wine moved back to barrel for another 3 months. The final blend was from 28% new oak.

Vintage 2011

The Emile was made from 84% Merlot, 15.5% Cabernet Franc and 2.5% Petit Verdot. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately while Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 30C. The wines were then moved to fine grained french oak, 33% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 9 months. Barrel selection and blending was performed in February 2012 and the blended wine moved back to barrel for another 3 months.

Vintage 2010

The Emile was made from 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc. The wine was cold soaked for 24 hours before the addition of cultured bordeaux yeast. Merlot is crushed and processed separately whilke Cabernet Franc are processed together. Ferments generally lasted 7 days with a maximum temperature of 26C. The wines were moved straight away to fine grained french oak, 50% new. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel and completed after 9 months. Bottling took place after a total of 10 months in oak.