Syrah 2019

98/100 ★★★★★

This is reminiscent of a top-notch Hermitage. Exquisitely graceful yet immensely powerful. The elegantly perfumed bouquet shows Black Doris plum, violet, thyme, clove and roasted nut characters with a hint of gamey complexity. The concentrated palate exhibits impressive depth together with seamlessly flowing mouthfeel backed by layers of fine tannins, finishing persistent and engaging. The wine offers scintillating clarity as well as seductive complexity. A superstar Syrah.

- Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

96/100 ★★★★★

Complex and layered bouquet with scents of red and purple skinned fruits, a distinctive layer of French oak and Hawkes Bay crushed stones minerality. Youthful, primary and alluring. Fantastic structure on the palate with an abundance of ripe chalky tannins and backbone of acidity. This foundation embraces the flavours of dark red berries and spices, barrel flavours, some wild violets and soft savoury complexity. Excellent mouthfeel and finish, complexity and charm.

- Cameron Douglas, MS

96/100 ★★★★★

Dense, elegant syrah that is delightfully supple with dark berry, violet, black pepper, anise and spicy oak flavours. Delicious wine that can be appreciated now but should develop well with bottle age. A very impressive wine from an excellent vintage.

- Bob Campbell, The Real Review

Clone 470 and MS Syrah are sourced from the Bridge Pa Triangle and MS Syrah from Roys Hill. Bridge Pa Triangle soils feature fine silt over red metal gravels, while the gravel sites protected by Roys Hill feature gravel over fine silt. These sites are free draining and low in fertility, resulting in struggling vines producing fruit of great concentration. Low yielding vines, open canopy management, managed irrigation and Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand farmed were common to these sites. The 470 Syrah from Bridge Pa was textural with dark exotic characters, the MS Syrah from Bridge Pa was harvested for elegance and bright acidity while the Roys Hill MS Syrah was spicy and peppery.

The hand harvested Syrah was chilled overnight before processing the following day. Chilled bunches were hand sorted, then de-stemmed and the whole berries were transferred to open fermenters with some foot stomping. Some whole bunches were incorporated in the ferments. The berries were cold soaked before fermentation, indigenous yeast initiated the fermentation, while cultured yeast completed it. Twice daily pump overs and cool ferment temperatures through to dryness, then pressed to barriques. The Syrah matured for approximately 16 months in new and seasoned French oak barriques. Blended in September 2020 and bottled in October 2020.

A brooding black fruited Syrah which is well structured with alcohol, tannin and acidity. Dark spicy fruits are well supported with a hint of pure floral fragrance. Crafted to age well, complexity, concentration of pure ripe fruit and subtle sweet oak blend together to ensure this. This Syrah has lingering length and persistence of flavour, a hallmark of this variety.

Alcohol: 13.5% Total acidity: 6.2 g/l