2019 Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah, Gimblett Gravels, New Zealand (3 x Magnum)
There's plenty of underlying power and ripe fruit here, but the 2019 Le Sol maintains its elegance and perfume. It’s a polished Syrah with excellent clarity, offering pure black and blue fruit as well as savory layers of smoky bacon, sandalwood and restrained pepper spice. A whopping 60% whole bunch contributes to the lifted aromas as well as the tannic tension on the long-drawn-out finish. A cracking effort - potentially the best that's come out of the winery in the past decade – that will reward cellaring for a decade or more. If you're drinking young, give it a decant. This the first vintage for Australian winemaker Julian Grounds, and the oak use seems more judicious, but there's always room for improvement and we'll be sure to see sensitive, not showy, wines from Craggy in the coming vintages.
2019 Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah, Gimblett Gravels, New Zealand (3 x Magnum)
There's plenty of underlying power and ripe fruit here, but the 2019 Le Sol maintains its elegance and perfume. It’s a polished Syrah with excellent clarity, offering pure black and blue fruit as well as savory layers of smoky bacon, sandalwood and restrained pepper spice. A whopping 60% whole bunch contributes to the lifted aromas as well as the tannic tension on the long-drawn-out finish. A cracking effort - potentially the best that's come out of the winery in the past decade – that will reward cellaring for a decade or more. If you're drinking young, give it a decant. This the first vintage for Australian winemaker Julian Grounds, and the oak use seems more judicious, but there's always room for improvement and we'll be sure to see sensitive, not showy, wines from Craggy in the coming vintages.
| Producer | Craggy Range |
|---|---|
| Region | Hawke's Bay |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Grape Variety | Syrah |
| Vintage | 2019 |
| Colour | Red |
| ABV | 13.50% |
| Style | Full , Dry , Spicy |
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Vinous
The richly fragrant and densely concentrated 2019 Syrah Le Sol offers complex layers of flavors, from smoky bacon to festive spices, violets to cherry cake; the intensity of flavor and focused core point to low-yielding, high-quality fruit. There’s an abundance of serious tannins surrounding the core, and they’re resolved and very fine. It’s pleasing to see a more integrated use of new oak under new winemaker Julian Grounds, allowing the ripe fruit and gravelly site to speak, rather than a French forest. The next thing on the agenda? Please reduce the weight of the bottle. If I want to weight-train, I’ll go to the gym.
95 Points / Drinking 2023 - 2033
By Rebecca Gibb / April 2022