2022 Le Sol Syrah
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Tasting notes
The 2022 Le Sol follows in a long line of Le Sol Syrah, each expressive of the terroir and its vintage. The wine is lightly framed, highly perfumed, silky in the mouth and clearly, as far as I see it, bears the hallmarks of talented winemaker Julian Grounds, who left Craggy Range in 2023 to pursue another role in Mornington Peninsula, Australia. This wine here is all about pomegranate and pink peppercorn, ripe raspberry, black tea, crushed sea shells and minerals. It's a beautiful wine, possibly as light as I've ever seen it, and I love it for that. The tannins and acidity balance perfectly to create a featherlight and long finish. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Tasted as part of the Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection 2022. According to the Gimblett Gravels vintage report, it was “a memorable vintage where experience paid dividends.” A warm, dry winter devoid of frost events framed an impressive flowering and the earliest veraison in three decades. Decent rain through spring promoted good vine health and abundant canopies, which assisted in managing a record number of days above 30 degrees Celsius over the following two months. February was wet, warm and humid, which created challenges; however, three good weeks of ripening followed. A rain event late in the season was the final hurdle to harvest. Rainfall was 642 millimeters for the year, 50% up on the long-term average (429 millimeters), and degree days/hours of sunshine in 2022 were 1,417, also up on the long-term average (1,269).
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
More reviews and scores
Full screwcapped bottle a shocking 1,578 g, even though ex-winemaker assured me that bottles would be light-weighted. 100% Syrah (MS clone), 14 to 17 years old, planted on gently undulating gravels. Aged for 17 months in French and Austrian oak (45% new). Transparent crimson. Fresh, well-integrated nose. Gentler-textured than many 2022s and pretty delicate. I'm not sure I would identify it as Syrah if served it blind, but it's quite a sophisticated, fresh red wine. (JR)
The 2022 Le Sol is curvy but contained by its naturally fresh acidity. It's a mid-weight style, perhaps not the most concentrated you'll ever find, but eminently refreshing, cooling and focused. Enjoy it for its sandalwood, spice, jalapeno and blueberry muffin flavors alongside vanillin. It's nice to see that the winemaker has not forced this wine and respected what the vintage has given. It's a balanced, pleasurable wine that can be enjoyed from the starting gun.
Rich, supple and concentrated, this is from a heritage clone of Syrah brought to New Zealand in the 1840s, located in the stoniest parts of Gimblett Gravels. Takes its time to unfurl and unfold in the glass, with a steely tannic grip and high rose petal and gunsmoke aromatics, followed up with cumin, peach pit, sage and fennel. Deft and savoury, with a slow release that softens into creamy red fruits, and give plenty of time to relax and enjoy the finessed perfume that fills the glass. Where you can approach the Te Muna earlier, I strongly suggest allowing Le Sol four or five years to evolve in the bottle. Director David T Peabody, chief winemaker Julian Grounds, unfined, light filtration, 45% new oak for ageing.