Syrah 2018 6x75cl

• 75cl bottle

The colour is a medium red, vibrant and youthful. It showcases a nose of raspberries and red fruit with peppery undertones. On the palate, the wine is mouth-filling, soft with flavours of red berries, jam, pepper and spice with an underlying acidity providing freshness and length. Delicious as a young wine, it will nevertheless offer excellent cellaring potential.

Vineyards

The grapes for this wine were sourced from a selection of Hawkes Bay vineyards, growing in both river gravels and limestone. The soils are free drained with very little water retention, ideal for growing high-quality grapes. Intensive viticultural practises including shoot and bunch thinning allowed us to harvest perfectly ripened grapes from 12 to 25-year-old vines.

Vintage

The 2018 growing season was the 3rd hottest on record, which means that "you can taste the summer in the wines" according to winemaker Gordon Russell. A wet autumn and winter, although fortunately with no frosts, followed by a warm spring and a drier than usual summer meant the vines were in good condition at harvest. The harvest began in early March with white varietals, but harvesting of the reds happened much later in the season. The quality of the wines is evidenced by the array of awards they have won, with the Chardonnays in particular exhibiting a Burgundy-like nature: pure, elegant and ultimately delicious. The 2018 growing season was the 3rd hottest on record, which means that "you can taste the summer in the wines" according to winemaker Goron Russell. A wet autumn and winter, although fortunately with no frosts, followed by a warm spring and a drier than usual summer meant the vines were in good condition at harvest. The harvest began in early March with white varietals, but harvesting of the reds happened much later in the season. The quality of the wines is evidenced by the array of awards they have won.

Winemaking

The individual parcels were destemmed on arrival at the winery and transferred to small open-topped concrete fermenters for fermentation. Once 0, the ferments were managed Hand with hand plunging employed to gently extract colour and tannin. After a period of post-fermentation maceration the grapes were gently pressed and the wine transferred to French oak barrels for 14 months ageing. Both small 228-litre barriques and 500-litre puncheons were utilised, 15% of which were new.

Enjoy with:

• Grilled and Roasted Red Meats
• Pizza/Pasta
• Casseroles/Stews
• Mild Creamy Cheeses
• Mature Strong Cheeses

Enjoy with red meat and game dishes especially those with middle eastern flavours.