Power and richness meets beauty!
Earthy graphite, black olives and liquorice mingle with red berries, and plum. Savoury garrigue and subtle floral thyme.
Hawke's Bay Syrah not to be surpassed, showing intense concentration, balance and length.
VINTAGE
2021 was a stunner! After two exceptional harvests in the years prior, we could not of foreseen one of this absolute quality. Again Hawke’s Bay saw a warm and dry winter season continuing the drought conditions from the end of 2020 this led to an extremely early bud burst in the vineyards. The growing season was also warm and dry leading to one of the earliest starts to harvest we have ever seen. The summer and Autumn period were long and dry, allowing us to pick when we wanted with no pressure from rain. 2021 saw perfect conditions across all varieties from early too late, with acidity being the best seen in years and an absolute highlight from the year being Syrah.
VINEYARD
Single Vineyard wine from the steep sandstone over limestone slopes of Roy’s Hill situated high above the Gimblett Gravels stoney soils. This presence of light and heat combined with the natural slope of the site and cooling winds allow for some of Hawke’s Bay’s best Syrah to boast both masculine power while still retaining it’s delicate beauty.
Saorsa
Syrah/Shiraz
Syrah and Shiraz are two different names for the same red wine grape (and wines made from that grape). “Syrah” is what it's called in France’s Rhône Valley, where it is the main red wine grape of the Northern Rhône and a blending grape in the Southern Rhône. “Shiraz” is what winemakers in Australia typically call it.
Over time, the use of Shiraz or Syrah has taken on more meaning, and producers might choose one name or the other to indicate the style of their wine. A winemaker might bottle a “Shiraz” to indicate they made a rich, lush, riper, more fruit-forward wine in the Australian spirit. Or they might instead call their wine “Syrah” to indicate a more Old World– or leaner style of wine. Unfortunately, these terms can be used inconsistently.
As far as the link to Persia, Shiraz is the name of the capital in the Fars province, and there’s evidence that the earliest wines were made in that part of the world. For a long time it was believed that cuttings from Persia made their way to France’s Rhône region, and Syrah might have hailed from Persia, but DNA testing proved that Syrah/Shiraz is indigenous to France.