Te Awa Single Estate Gimblett Gravels Hawkes Bay Syrah 2018

Description

• French oak
• Dark berries
• Floral notes
• Supple tannins

"There’s a neat array of pepper, spice and very rich and plush dark plums and blueberries here with good depth to the palate. This has luxuriant fruit weight that really holds deep and smooth. Drink or hold" James Suckling, Oct 2019

The 2018 Te Awa Syrah is a delicate and fragrant wine. Aromas of dark berries are complemented by spicy pepper and attractive floral notes. The palate is complex with sweet fruit flavours of blueberry and raspberry balanced by notes of cedar and the typical Gimblett Gravel's minerality. Medium weight on the palate, the natural acidity and supple tannins give the wine lovely freshness and persistence.

The Te Awa Single Estate Syrah is sourced from the premium vineyard blocks located on the world-famous Gimblett Gravels soil, renowned for growing high quality Syrah. These vines are of the “Mass Select” clone, a legendary Hawke's Bay clone derived from vines characterised by superior performance over many generations. The vineyard blocks were intensively managed during the season to produce low yielding high-quality fruit of optimal ripeness.

2018 was an outstanding growing season with warm and dry conditions punctuated with frequent rainfall which helped keep the vineyards healthy. The Syrah grapes were harvested, destemmed, and tipped directly into open-top vats. The grapes were allowed to ferment spontaneously with native vineyard yeasts and minimal cap management throughout the ferment resulted in a gentle extraction of flavour. Once dry, the wine was drawn off the skins and aged for a total of 18 months in 300L French oak hogshead barrels (35% new), before being blended and prepared for bottling.