NZ Syrah

Grapes grown at Te Awanga, south of Napier, give this impressive Syrah its bold and powerful with aromas of ripe blueberries, licorice and black pepper. It?s a velvety, smooth, silky and full bodied Syrah now and will age superbly for up to 10 years, potentially even longer.

About Clearview Estate

Clearview Estate is one of oldest, most well established wineries in Hawke's Bay and is situated on the Te Awanga Coast, south of Napier. It's a great place to visit for tastings at the cellar door as well as lunch in the dappled shade of the established courtyard area. The winery was founded by Tim Turvey, winemaker and co-owner. The current winemaker is the multi talented Matt Kirby.

Airavata is made with Syrah grown on the 20 hectare vineyard owned by Elephant Hill Wines on the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke's Bay from two Syrah clones, Mass Selection and 470 with 1% Viognier co-fermented in the blend. The grapes were fermented in small open top oak cuves with about 10% whole clusters. Warm ferments were hand plunged and aged in French oak, 52% new for 26 months. The wine was bottled with minimal filtration and no fining so it ticks the vegan friendly box.

Airavata means the king god of Elephants in Hindu.

Volumes are limited so get in fast to secure some Clos de Ste Anne Syrah, which is quite possibly the best red wine made in Gisborne each year with its silky elegance and subtle notes of spice, both highlighting the greatness of Syrah while retaining superb balance. This is an excellent vintage and rates as the best we've tasted in the past decade. 

This wine is certified organic and biodynamic. 

The 2020 vintage was superlative and is the first year since 2014 in which all five wines made from the Clos de Ste Anne vineyard have been produced. 

Elspeth is Mills Reef?s top tier range, produced from their vineyards in the Gimblett Gravels, Hawke?s Bay. This Syrah is intensely concentrated and complex, displaying luscious boysenberry, white pepper spice and liquorice notes.

Syrah is one of the great reds of Hawke's Bay and this wine gains its full body, impressive structure and dry spicy flavours from the addition of whole clusters of grapes to the fermentation. 

It's a powerful big red with flavours of dark plum and spiced fruit.

The 2020 vintage was warm and dry, ideal for making wines to cellar. This wine can age for 10 years+. 

"This is impressively fruited and gorgeously expressed on the nose showing dark plum, blueberry, game, black olive, cedar and floral characters. The palate is concentrated and richly fruited, exhibiting silky mouthfeel and seductive savoury nuances. The wine offers fruit power as well as elegance and balance. At its best: now to 2023." Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Sep 2017

Trademark wines are only made in a good vintage, with fairly small print runs.  They're drinkers and keepers.  Made from 100% Hawke's Bay gold.

Ripe fruit from three of our Trademark Syrah vineyards planted on limestone hillsides and an old riverbed. It shows admirable ripeness and depth of flavour, retaining vibrancy and great complexity on the nose and palate with typical violet, spice, black cherry and subtle white pepper notes. Supple chalky tannins provide a structure that promise time in bottle will be rewarded.

Homage is Trinity Hill?s top red and was first made in 2002 from 100% Syrah grapes grown on the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke?s Bay. It was inspired when its founder, winemaker John Hancock, visited Gerard Jaboulet in Tain l?Hermitage in the northern Rhone Valley, France and met Gerard Jaboulet and his father Louis, who produced the great wine, Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle ? one of the great reds of the first half of the 20th Century. It?s still one of the northern Rhone?s great reds but is not always considered the absolute pinnacle these days, despite its illustrious history and its evocative name ? after a small stone chapel supposedly built as a retreat for a 13th century knight loved the hill of Hermitage above the Rh?ne.

Back in New Zealand, Hancock was so inspired that he returned to the Rhone to work the 1996 harvest at Jaboulet, an experience which cemented his own passion for northern Rhone Syrah styles. This was further cemented when Gerard Jaboulet sent him three clones of Syrah and one of Viognier as a gift from the Hermitage appellation. Gerard passed away in 1997 at the age of 55 but Hancock had those vine cuttings quarantined and propagated so that he was able to plant them in 2002, alongside Trinity Hill Winery?s first Syrah vines, which were planted in 1995 with cuttings from the neighbouring Stonecroft vineyard.

Long story short, the first small production Syrah was produced at Trinity Hill in 1997 and has since grown so that the winery produces three different Syrahs, of which Homage is the king.

Great ripe, juicy new Hawke's Bay Syrah from maverick winemaker Rod McDonald, whose love affair with Syrah shows in this full bodied red made from a mix of French clones and was made traditionally with the grapes going through a cold soak to extract colour before natural fermentation kicked off eventually building up to a strong, hot ferment.

McDonald describes this wine as having beautiful, lifted floral notes and a lovely punchy mouthful of fruit and earth.  Bright and vibrant with aromas of raspberries, violets and nutmeg. Silky with great balance and a fine structure. 

Mills Reef Winery is based in Tauranga and makes its stellar wines from grapes grown in New Zealand's two biggest wine regions; Marlborough and Hawke's Bay, respectively. 

This dry full bodied and spicy Syrah is made from grapes grown in Hawke's Bay where the warm climate adds weight, spice and ripe fruit flavours. Great drinking and excellent value for money for enjoying now or in the next four to five years.

Le Sol means sunshine or soil, depending on which language you're talking - and either way, it is a lovely evocative description of one of the best Syrahs made in Hawke's Bay every year. This incredibly powerful wine is a beautiful spicy expression of the great Syrah grape from the Northern Rhone Valley. It was aged for 27 months in French oak barriques.

This beautifully fragrant Syrah is a dry, full bodied wine with notes of spice and complexity, offering very good value for money. It's made with grapes from the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District in Hawke?s Bay and displays blackberry, dark plum and toasted nut characters with subtle black pepper and floral aromas. 

A top wine for the price and a lovely expression of Hawke's Bay Syrah.

Terrace Edge is a family owned, certified organic winery based in the Waipara Valley wine growing region. This Syrah has a nose of ripe blackberry and plum with notes of liquorice and spice. The palate is rich with dark fruit, supported by elegant ripe tannins.

Terrace Edge was named the New Zealand Organic Vineyard of the Year in 2018 and this year was named Aotearoa New Zealand Organic Winery of the Year.

Ash Ridge Wines is located in Hawke's Bay and is a family owned winery established in 2005 by Chris and Sonya Wilcock.

This gem from the stunning 2020 vintage has a savoury, gamey bouquet packed with meaty nuances, black pepper, herb, dark plum and blackberry. The palate is rich with dark fruit and savoury details thanks to a supple tannin framework and balanced acidity.