"Dense, deep syrah with ripe dark berry, plum, liquorice. Dark chocolate, mocha and spicy oak flavours. A brooding but accessible red, with sweet fruit supported by a backbone of ripe tannins. Will develop well with bottle age" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Apr 2017

"Very dark, deep, black-hued ruby-red colour. The nose is fine and tightly concentrated, with taut, but dense aromas of ripe blackberry fruit along with iron-earth complexities speaking of the Gimblett Gravels, along with beautiful fragrances of spice, game and liquorice, and mineral detail. Dark, deep, concentrated black fruits feature on the palate, with great intensity and iron-earth complexities, minerals and oak. This has excellent underlying power. Rich and well packed on the palate, the textures are very fine-grained, but the extraction is serious. The depth, extract and drive indicates this is extremely ageworthy. 100% Syrah from the ‘Cornerstone’ vineyard, fermented to 14.0% alc., the wine aged 16 months in 55% new French oak" Raymond Chan, Sept 2017

"On a hillside beside the sea north of Napier, few New Zealand wineries are as beautifully situated as Esk Valley. A step up in complexity and depth over Esk’s excellent Hawke’s Bay Syrah, this Reserve wine opens with aromas of dark berries, pepper, earth and restrained oak. The palate is ripe, smooth and warmly satisfying, with layers of fruit richness and integrated ripe tannins combining beautifully. A wine for syrah-braised oxtail" Cuisine Magazine, New Zealand Syrah Tasting 2017

This is a deeply coloured and aromatic wine representing the best of the 2014 harvest. It displays notes of red fruits, blackberries and spice, with a subtle oak complexity. Full bodied and satisfying it also displays an elegance typical of Gimblett Gravels Syrah. 400 cases were produced.

From a single vineyard wine from the Cornerstone Vineyard in the Gimblett Gravels, the vines, now 18 years old are spur pruned, trained on a vertical shoot positioned trellis and intensively managed to provide quality grapes for this Winemakers Reserve label. Yields are kept very low and the fruit has been hand harvested.

The fruit was destemmed and transferred for fermentation to a 1930s open-topped concrete fermenter. Fermentation began spontaneously and when active the fermenters were plunged by hand up to four times daily. Once dry, the new wine was macerated on skins and after a total vat time of approximately 30 days pressed to barrel for malolactic fermentation and ageing. Fifty-five percent of the barrels were new. The wine was bottled in December 2015.