I’ve never featured two wines in the same review before, but it’s the only way to tackle these bottles of salubrious syrah from Bridge Pa, in what I think is a first for New Zealand. Dubbed ‘Doppio’ after the Italian word for ‘double’, Ash Ridge have opted to keep their two clones of syrah separate and make them as individual wines instead of blending them. The two different clones, Chave (believed to have been imported from the Rhone in mysterious fashion) and MS, the ‘Heritage’ or ‘Limmer’ clone from the original material Dr Alan Limmer rescued from the old Te Kauwhata Research station. The aim is to showcase both clones at their best, to show how uniquely flavoured they are, whilst they grow just metres apart on the same soils. So just one barrel of each was made to highlight their diversity. I really enjoyed the MS because it was so floral, delicately structured and elegantly textured, yet the Chave was bolder, meatier and a different beast entirely, in fact I wanted to yell “woof!”
after the first sip. It’s amazing to taste the two side by side, a real education.
