2014 Hawkes Bay Syrah

60% whole bunch. Dense purple colour and somewhat aggressive on the palate, with obvious acid and a tight bitter black fruit character. Stylish but rather extreme. (RH)

A top vintage in Hawke's Bay. A parcel of special Syrah fruit sourced from a single vineyard in Hawke's Bay’s Gimblett Gravels subregion. The vineyard is over 15 years old with very low-yielding vines thanks to the free-draining soils on a historic riverbed. The vines are VSP trained and cane-pruned on a single fruiting wire with high density planting. The Syrah was co-fermented with 7.5% Grüner Veltliner skins. This is a similar technique to what is done in Northern Rhône but with Austria’s hallmark white variety instead of France’s Viognier. Winemaker Matt Thomson says: 'Although I had Viognier available for this purpose, I specifically chose Grüner because I suspected it was a better partner. I believe Viognier can have an over-sweet fruit character when it is very ripe which I wanted to avoid and the finished wine benefited from Grüner’s white-pepper note. 60% whole-bunch component, hand-plunged and fermented by cultured and wild yeasts. Maturation of 10 months in new and seasoned French oak was carried out before the wine was blended and bottled unfiltered in March 2015. TA 6.6 g/l, pH 3.76. Dark, inky black cherry colour. Lots of pepper here and a savoury note a bit like tar. Fabulous texture that is peppery like the flavour but also incredibly compact and smooth. Even with the intensity of elegant fruit, there is still a surprising juicy lightness overall even though the overall character is dark and savoury like the northern Rhône and without the sweetness of the southern hemisphere. Mouth-watering freshness on the finish. Supple and very long. Like the Blank Canvas Pinot, this has the perfect harmony of Old World elegance and structure with the purity of NZ fruit. (JH)