It is almost the winter solstice and it has been yet another wet Sunday afternoon. I wanted a warming red wine that I could curl up on the couch with and savour. We're always drinking youthful wines, wines that are current release. It was time for something with a little age for a change.

The St Jerome Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 1995 fitted the bill nicely. But it had been out in the garage and the bottle was cold. A quick zap in the microwave for 30 seconds on 'high' soon fixed that.

The warmed bottle was opened and the wine poured into the glass. It was a deep red colour in the centre but the fading rims, with their orange hues, hinted that this was not a baby wine.

The aromas were fragrant and evocative with plums and sweet spice, herb flowers and a hint of tar.

In the mouth it's a rich ripe wine full of sweet boysenberry, plum and cassis-like fruit bound together with meaty tannins and warmly integrated French oak.

It's a strongly flavoured, concentrated, full-bodied red and is lovely and warming with a fabulous 'munchy' texture and excellent length that leaves a spicy vinous flavour lingering. As the powerful taste lingers, there are all sorts of flavours playing on the palate.

This bottle is drinking very well tonight but evolves wonderfully as the night goes on indicating there's plenty of life ahead. We have drunk older vintages of this wine up to 12 years after vintage so know how the St Jerome Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot can age.

It is the perfect accompaniment for a roast of lamb cooked with a blackcurrant jelly and fresh rosemary herb glaze.

The unfiltered wine is made from 100% handpicked fruit harvested from Davorin and Miro Ozich's St Jerome home vineyard in Henderson. The wine had an extended period of maceration, was aged for 2 years in French oak, of which 50% was new, then bottle aged for about 18 months before release in November 1998.

We bought this wine some time ago, but if you are lucky enough to see it, grab it - you won't be disappointed. It's original retail ex the St Jerome winery in Metcalfe Road, Henderson was NZ$36.00.

St Jerome Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is also exported to the USA, UK and Japan.