• French oak
• Dried cherry
• Cake spice
• Smooth & gentle

"It's spicy and fragrant on the nose showing dried cherry, leather, cured meat and cake spice aromas, followed by a middle-weight body offering sweet berry flavours with savoury notes. Smooth and gentle with a finely dry finish. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Apr 2023

"Freshly aromatic, it is strongly varietal, with plummy, spicy, slightly nutty flavours, supple tannins, and good complexity, vigour and harmony" Michael Cooper, Jul 2021

"Matured and ready with a bouquet and palate of cherry and raspberry fruit flavours, some clay and spice layers. A dry wine with a fine tannins texture, fruit flavours mirror the bouquet and the acid line holds all the taste and texture elements in place. Moderate length, balanced and well made with best drinking from day of purchase through 2026" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Jun 2024

A beautiful deep purple/red colour, with a dense, dark core and bright, flashing purple rim. Bouquet reflects the essence of Hawkes Bay Syrah: masses of black fruits, a touch of pepper, intriguing floral notes, some meatiness and lovely, savoury oak. This is a beautifully structured wine. Medium to full bodied with silken tannins and great length. The fruit in the mid palate lasts and lasts. The 2019 ‘Chalk Ridge’ Hawke’s Bay Syrah is already approachable, but we expect this wine to cellar well for a number of years.

This wine is entirely from our Chalk Ridge block, just to the south of Havelock North. It is a steep, north facing amphitheatre that is strewn with fossilised limestone. We harvested two different parts of the vineyard on 28th March and 4th April 2019. The fruit was in fabulous condition in 2019 and we think that this may be one of the best ever wines to come off this very special block. Post ferment and MLF the wines were blended and racked into French oak (50% new). After 11 months maturation the wines were racked, fined, and filtered.

Food Pairing: The soft tannins, ripe fruit flavours, black pepper and spice make this wine a great accompaniment to many meat dishes such as lamb, venison, beef and game. The bolder and more complex style means that it will stand up to richer flavours and accompaniments.