Many wineries and winemakers would be envious of the
Villa Maria Estates group juggernaut, entering every category of wine style
with the view of making the very best examples, and leading the class. It has happened so many times in the last two
decades; Villa Maria dominates with Chardonnay, and has done from the
1980s. The Villa Maria, Vidal and Esk Valley
labels have consistently been show stars from the late 1980s. More recently, Villa Maria has succeeded with
Pinot Noir, notably from the 2000 vintage.
Now comes the turn of the Rhone
varieties, both white – in Viognier, and red in Syrah. The last five years has seen a remarkable
succession of top Syrah wines flow from the Villa Maria group. The winemakers have access to outstanding fruit,
primarily the Gimblett Gravels. This
combined with very talented and considered winemaking involving Alastair Maling MW, Corey Ryan (since moved back to Australia), Gordon Russell, Hugh Crichton, and now Nick Picone, has seen Syrah pretty well nailed. The Syrah wines are exactly what they should
be, perfectly ripened to show a full range of aromatics and flavours, superbly
accessible palate structures and absolutely no excesses. They are sheer class.
We offer the Villa Maria ‘Reserve’ and Esk Valley
‘Winemakers’ Syrahs, from the outstanding 2007 Hawke’s Bay vintage for your
consideration. These should be snapped
up, as we have been advised new release wines will be here soon. We at Regional Wines reckon the likes of
these wines will sit among the finest of their variety when we look back at the
decade of 2000 to 2010. Make sure you
have some in your cellar:
Villa Maria
‘Reserve’ Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2007
This wine follows on from the multiple trophy and gold
medal winning 2006 vintage, and has already been awarded 5 stars in Cuisine and
Winestate tastings in 2009. Made from
fruit from sites in the Gimblett Gravels, the grapes were totally destemmed and
fermented to 14.0% alc in open top vats with hand plunging to a maximum of
30-32°C and aged 20 months in 56% new French oak. Full, dark purple ruby in colour, this has a
bouquet that gently pervades with its exotic perfumes of sweetly ripened black
fruits, pepper, exotic Asian spices, liquorice and prunes. The palate seduces with its sweetness of
fruit, black pepper and spice cut and very fine-grained tannins. This has intensity with finesse, and its
balance provides a deceptive approachability which enables it to be enjoyed
immediately. There is more than
sufficient underlying structure to enable a decade of bottle age, all the while
being a deliciously elegant accompaniment to fine red meat dishes.
Esk Valley ‘Winemakers’ Gimblett
Gravels Syrah 2007
An instructive comparison with the Villa Maria Reserve
wine. Fullish, dark ruby red in colour,
this has an intense, punchy nose of red and black fruits, perfumes redolent of
black roses with oak spice and hints of game complexity. Full, rich and showing a robustness of
structure from serious extraction, the flavours of black fruits, black pepper
and spices are interwoven with a floral and red note, that along with good
acidity provide a tautness and tension to the size of the wine. This impressive
wine will cellar for a 10-15 years and be an excellent match to rich game
food. Gordon Russell’s baby, the wine is
made from fruit from 11 y.o. vines from the ‘Cornerstone’ vineyard in the
Gimblett Gravels. After destemming, wild
yeast fermentation in open top concrete vats with hand plunging, the resultant
wine of 14.3% alc was matured 21 months in 30% new French oak barriques. Only 170 cases were made. The wine has been awarded gold medals at the
2009 Bragato Wine Awards and 2010 Liquorland IWC, and should accumulate more in
the fashion of the highly successful 2006 vintage.