Swift Wines Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2018 $40 
This is the second edition of Lauren Swift’s solo syrah, crafted from dry-farmed fruit grown in the Bridge Pa Triangle wine district of Hawke’s Bay. Dry-farmed grapevines have to send their roots WAY down deep to find any moisture (as opposed to conventionally irrigated vines whose roots sit shallow in comparison) and that results in an elegantly structured, elastic-textured wine with an earthy, mineral-edged spine cloaked in fine, peppery layers. The fruit is spicy, and redolent (redolent is such an authoritative word right?) of blueberry, hedgerow berries and shows hints of tamarillo. The tannins are smooth and stretchy and it’s a lovely, lightly-styled example.
