Man O' War Dreadnought Waiheke Island Syrah 2018

Description

• French oak
• Lifted spice & floral
• Red berries
• Fine tannins

"Rich, intense and classy syrah with plum, dark berry, five-spice, chocolate-mocha and nutty oak flavours. A robust yet stylish wine, with a solid backbone of ripe tannins suggesting good cellaring potential" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Aug 2021

Dreadnought 2018 is a classically styled Syrah with really lifted spice and floral notes over laying a more savoury umami character. Underneath the aromatic lift is a layer of red berry fruit characters which lead into a soft and supple palate following with a clear focused acidity and fine tannins, all finishing with a trademark long persistence that is fresh and slightly salty.

Grapes were grown on Waiheke Island from 4 vineyards: 20 Tonner, Mad Mans, Niko Face, Lunatics.

Vintage 2018 began with a settled and dry Spring resulting in great flowering and a corresponding excellent fruit set. They then enjoyed a relatively hot summer although there were intense periods of rainfall thanks to ex Tropical Cyclone Fehi and Gita which put the pressure on during harvest time. Temperatures remained warm into the harvest months increasing humidity however with careful attention to detail in the vineyard they were rewarded with excellent fruit.

Their Dreadnought Syrah comes from steep hillside vineyards and is carefully hand harvested before delivery to the winery. The fruit is put across a sorting table before being de stemmed and delivered to open vats for fermentation and in select cases whole clusters where included in the ferment. Syrah is allowed to ferment with wild yeasts with plunging or pump overs being carried out twice daily. Following an extended time on skins (average 35days in vat) the wines are gently pressed and taken straight to barrel for natural malolactic fermentation in the spring. The wines are racked once to a blend after 18 months before further maturing in tank for 3 months prior to bottling.