By Sue Davies
and Raymond Chan
Introduction
Craggy Range is a winery that prides itself
on terroir driven oriented vineyards and places emphasis on the selection of
sites and the clones of the vines to match the sites and the variable, natural
elements than the actions of the winemaking process. Rod Easthope, winemaker, said his job was
more a babysitting role than placing his winemaking input on the fruit. All the wines are single estate wines,
products of what soil and stone could create in any particular year. It was with this background that the 2009
release of ‘Prestige’ wines for Craggy Range
was made at Regional Wines.
Flight One: Hawke’s Bay Chardonnays
The first
Chardonnay served was the Craggy Range ‘Kidnappers’ Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2008 (17.0/20) 13.2%
alc, 4 months on lees in 10% new French oak. Lovely peach, stone fruit, melon and a touch
of herbs on bouquet. The palate had a
rich minerally texture, with again a touch of herbs, lemon zing in a bone dry
style. Almost Chablis in style. Next was
the Craggy Range ‘Gimblett Gravels’ Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay
2008 (16.5/20) 14.5% alc, made from
Dijon clones, indigenous yeast fermented and 10 months in 42% new French
barriques. This was more creamy and
peachy than its predecessor with oatmeal and a nuttiness on the nose. The palate was a fatter broader style but
still showed citrus freshness and a delicious complexity.
Flight Two: ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’ Chardonnays
The Craggy Range flagship
Chardonnay, ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’ takes its name from ‘the beautiful stones’ the
vines are grown in. The grapes are hand picked and whole bunched pressed. We had two vintages to compare. The Craggy
Range ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’ Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2007 (18.0/20) 14.5%
alc, wild yeast fermented and aged 17 months in 54% new French oak showed citrus,
lemon, nuttiness and minerals. The wine
had a linear structure in the best sense.
It was a dry and powerful wine with complex mealy characters. The Craggy Range ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’ Gimblett Gravels
Chardonnay 2006 (18.5/20) 13.8% alc, spent 16 months in 70% new French
oak. This showed a generosity compared
to 2007 appearing bigger, fatter and richer.
The wine still had the linear structure, the mealy components with the
nutty, cashew and fresh citrus flavours.
A wine to be enjoyed now but if you have the willpower you will be
rewarded with a few more years of cellaring.
Flight Three: The Syrahs
The Craggy Range ‘Block 14’ Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2007 (19.0/20)
13.4% was wild yeast fermented and aged French oak. It possessed a lovely fragrant, white pepper,
plum, perfumed and floral the nose which was delightful. The palate was approachable, refined, rich and
textured, with flavours of plums and boysenberry in a youthful, but poised
style. Absolutely delicious! The Craggy Range ‘Le Sol’ Gimblett Gravels Hawke’s Bay
Syrah 2007 (18.0/20) 14.21% alc, spent 20 months in 42% new French oak. ‘Le Sol’ takes its name from the soil. Dark in colour, this wine exhibited more
earthy, plums, pepper and black cherry with tar and some floral on the nose,
which carried on through to the palate.
The palate was intense, complex and concentrated but still in a tight
youthful way. Not a blockbuster as the first releases of this label, and more
medium body weight. A wine needing time
to show its true potential.
Flight Four: The Bordeaux-Varietal Reds
The Craggy
Range ‘Gimblett Gravels’ Hawke’s
Bay Merlot 2006 (18.0/20) 13.7% alc, spent 18 months in 45% new French
oak. It was an assertive wine with plummy,
earthy, black licorice aromas that carried through to the palate. Merlot is often seen as a gentle wine with
soft and moderate tannins. This wine in
its youth still had considerable grip and needed time to release the bright
fruit that was there. But it should be
worth the wait; otherwise pair it with some warm comfort food that can handle
the tannins.
Two
vintages of the Merlot-based ‘Sophia’ Prestige red were served next. The Craggy Range ‘Sophia’ Gimblett Gravels Hawke’s Bay 2007
(19.5/20) 14.3% alc, had it all! A
blend of 81% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec,
spent 18 months in 50% new French oak. It
was rich, floral and fragrant, with some attractive cedar and herb nuances,
especially thyme showing. The palate was
ultra-refined in tannin extraction and elegant in expression, with a delicious
lifted berry fruitiness in a succulent style.
Stunningly delicious! The Craggy Range ‘Sophia’ Gimblett Gravels
Hawke’s Bay 2006 (18.0/20) 14.1% alc, was 85% merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc,
4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec, aged 19 months in 60% new French oak.. This wine showed complex secondary tobacco
characters on the nose and generally was a drier and structurally firmer that
the previous wine. Interpreted as more
of a Bordeaux lookalike, that will cellar
well.
Next was
the new release Cabernet Sauvignon-based Prestige red. The Craggy Range ‘The Quarry’
Gimblett Gravels Hawke’s Bay 2007 (19.0/20)
14.39% alc, was 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, aged 20
months in 64% new French oak.. Intense,
spicy and posssessing earthy/tobacco notes with a touch of dark berries and florals
on the bouquet. It had plenty of earthy,
spices and minerals along with very ripe black fruits