Beach House Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2019 $30 Chris Harrison is a syrah superstar in my book. Each year his Gimblett Gravels grown grapes produce the peppery, cocoa-dusted goods. The 2019 oozes blueberries, dark chocolate, Christmas pudding spices across the nose and palate, the tannins are smooth, softly elastic and have excellent chew-factor. It’s a warming, … Read More
syrah
Mission Gimblett Gravels Jewelstone Syrah 2020
Mission Gimblett Gravels Jewelstone Syrah 2020 $50 Intensely glossy and inky-dark as it pours into the glass, this is a wine crafted from fruit grown in a small site on Mere Road, in the middle of the most famous red wine region in the country. And it’s pretty spectacular. I bet the last thing you … Read More
Swift Whole Bunch Bridge Pa Triangle Syrah 2019
Swift Whole Bunch Bridge Pa Triangle Syrah 2019 $40 Syrah lends itself to reductive winemaking, especially when it’s made in a low-preservative way like Lauren Swift prefers. When her syrah is fresh out of the gate, it takes on a struck-match, flinty, smoky complexity that wraps around the pepper and blueberry backbone of the wine. … Read More
Swift Wines Bridge Pa Triangle Whole Bunch Syrah 2020
Swift Wines Bridge Pa Triangle Whole Bunch Syrah 2020$40 If you’re expecting classic violets and pepper and all that normal syrah ‘stuff’ then best you put your seatbelt on and scoot right out of the CBD because winemaker Lauren Swift shakes her syrah up. A field blend of two clones, Mass Selection and Chave have … Read More
de la terre Reserve Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2019
de la terre Reserve Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2019 $39.99 Hold the phone, lock the gates and pull on your pepper pants because this new release from the legendary winemaking talents of Tony Prichard is extraordinarily spicy and nicey. Crafted from handpicked fruit grown in the highest elevation syrah vineyard in Hawke’s Bay (160m icyww), it’s … Read More
Kōpū Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020
Kōpū Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020 $24.99 From the lovelies at Lake Road Wines comes this bright, pepper-dusted syrah sourced from vineyards around Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand’s syrahvana. Showing classic violet vavoom and an edge of iron filings, blackcurrant, blueberry and seasoned leather, it’s a style that requires a large, swirlable glass so that you can … Read More
I taste the 2018 Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection
It’s one heck of an exciting feeling cracking open the box containing the newest Gimblett Gravels selection wines. Twelve of the greatest red wines to come from New Zealand’s most famous red wine region, selected independently by Andrew Caillard MW. They’re also selected from a talent pool consisting of dozens of hopefuls from dozens of … Read More
Te Mania Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020
Te Mania Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020 $27.99 While the team at Te Mania have kept us copasetic with their bottles of Nelsonian niceness, this time they’ve journeyed north to the syrah capital of the country to hunt out fruit that’ll not only curl your lashes and epilate your limbs, it’ll also expand your nostrils with … Read More
Tastes Like Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020
Known Unknown Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2020 $25 Prepare for a hit of meaty, savoury, classic violet and peppercorn characters on the nose of this new syrah and enjoy how it’s followed by smooth, earthy, dark cocoa flavours and layers of nicely chewy tannins. All that good stuff is boosted with solid acidity as well. It’s … Read More
Esk Valley Artisanal Collection Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2019
Esk Valley Artisanal Collection Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2019 $25 Glossy and gorgeous in the glass, it’s heaving with violets, soft black pepper, dark cherry, damson plum and redcurrant characters that assail the nostrils and flood the tastebuds. With fresh, ultra-vibrant acidity adding vavoom to the mid-palate and fine-grained tannins elongating the flavours, it’s a total … Read More