Elephant Hill Airavata Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2019 $125
From what’s fast becoming known as the holy trinity of Hawke’s Bay vintages (19.20,21) Airavata is the absolute pinnacle of what the Elephant Hill winemaking team can achieve with syrah. And I’ll tell you right now, it’s so gorgeously, garnet-hued, glossy and inky-dark, it wins stars on appearance alone. Named after the sacred white elephant in Hindu mythology, the King-God of Elephants, it’s scented with heightened cocoa, peppercorns, pine needles, dark plum and vibrant blueberry layers. Beautifully balanced in the mouth, each sip unfurls a peacock’s tail of exotic spices, dried herbs, dark fruits, perfectly prickly tannins and a long, fleshy finish. It’s very youthful and will really hit its straps over the next 3-4 years.
Sourced from their Gimblett Gravels vineyard (Stone) and their Bridge Pa Triangle vineyard (Earth), the fruit is a 71%/29% mix of MS and 470 clones, that were handpicked, 100% whole-bunch fermented (to minimise harshness) with a mix of wild and man-made yeasts, and then left to go through a natural, softening malolactic ferment in the Spring. It then spent a quiet, sleepy 24 months in French oak to knit together nicely.
