Published NZ Herald Sat 12 Dec 2015
Four weeks ago the 24th Annual Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction collectively raised $141k for Cranford Hospice by auctioning off rare wine lots. Mucho big bucks were dropped on syrah, a rising star from Bridge Pa…
Selaks Reserve HB Syrah 2013 $22
Sourced from the Selaks ‘Home’ and ‘Stewart’ vineyards in the middle of the red metal soils of the Bridge Pa Triangle Wine District, this is chock full of ripe plum, clove, peppercorn, boysenberry and chocolate characters, making it pretty much un-put-downable. Smooth, warming, velvety and dangerously good with venison backstraps dusted in cocoa and coffee, seared and served rare. Woof is the word basically.
Alpha Domus Barnstormer Syrah 2014 $34
This is a wine rapidly gaining oohs and aaahs from the worlds’ wine set, which is hardly surprising considering the grapes are grown in gobsmackingly good ground and the wine has been coaxed into being by the superbly talented Barry Riwai. Bursting with super-fresh berryfruit and perfumed with pepper, violets, hints of coughdrop and cocoa, it’s an elegantly crafted syrah with a soft, slippery finish that lingers long.
Ngatarawa Proprietors Reserve Syrah 2013 $39
Intensely aromatic and packed with crushed rose petal, peppercorns, dark cocoa and plummy plushness, it’s a stunningly sexy example that expands into a rich, biscuit and bayleaf-driven mouthfeel. Bridge Pa pioneer winemaker Peter Gough is in his element here, somehow cramming carloads of concentrated, ripe fruit, medicinal, comforting spices and velvety tannins into just 750mls of goodness. Buy now or forever kick yourself.
