Church Road Tom Syrah 2019, Hawkes Bay
An opaque appearance with a core of dark purple hues leading to a bright pink rim. A youthful and expressive bouquet - concentrated, complex and intriguing. Numerous fruit and spice aromas including black currant and ripe Doris plums, a touch of old raspberry jam then scents of clove, baked vanilla pod and toasty barrel. Moments of iron, gun flint and baked stone add depth and complexity. On the palate - a medium to medium+ weighted wine with a firm, youthful and concentrated mouthfeel. A combination of fruit and wood tannins with a back bone of acidity are soaked up by the core of fruit and dark berry flavours. The finish is very long and dry with just a whisper of fruit sweetness and dark rose at the very end. A wine that needs cellar time with best drinking from 2023 through 2033+.
97 Points
Outstanding
Bottle # 03049 tasted
About this wine’s origins:
VINEYARD - Redstone Vineyard (91%)
Situated in the renowned Bridge Pa Triangle Winegrowing District, much of the vineyard is sheltered from cold air draining out of the high country by Roy’s Hill, while the area is also far enough inland to be little affected by the cool sea breeze. This situation makes this one of the warmest areas in Hawke’s Bay, perfect for the cultivation of our best red grape varieties. The soils here are known as red metals, a 10,000 year old, free draining, alluvial greywacke gravel riverbed since covered by a shallow layer of wind-blown loess, including iron rich volcanic ash that has rust stained the stones. It typically produces ripe, supple and aromatic wines.
The Gimblett Vineyard (9%)
Only 3 minutes form the Redstone Vineyard, here the soils are very young, very free draining alluvial gravels, this soil type is the lowest vigour, lowest nutrient soil in Hawke’s Bay, restricting vine vigour and resulting in low crops of intensely flavoured fruit. The area is only 30m above sea level, and far enough inland to be relatively well protected from the sea breeze, the vineyard is also sheltered from the cold southerly by Roys hill, and this is one of the warmest sub-regions in Hawke’s bay, ideally suited to red winegrowing. This vineyard tends to produce wines with a darker fruit spectrum and a firmer tannin structure than Redstone.
VITICULTURE
Though it got off to a wet start, 2019 was another exceptional growing season in Hawke’s Bay. By January, the early season rains had ceased, and generally warm, dry conditions prevailed. All varieties were trained to two cane VSP. We employed extensive shoot and fruit thinning, along with bunch positioning, shoulder removal, declumping, close canopy trimming and 100% removal of leaf through the fruit zone, to ensure a balanced, evenly spaced and well exposed crop. Soil moisture was monitored regularly to regulate a deficit drip irrigation programme. This keeps the vines in a functioning yet low vigour state that promotes optimal ripening and concentration. Approaching harvest time, we visit the blocks every two or three days, tasting, evaluating flavour and ripeness and checking for condition to ensure harvest is planned for the optimum moment.
WINEMAKING
Blocks were selectively harvested across a sorting table to remove any green material before being crushed to fermenters. Fermentation was allowed to peak at 34 deg C ensuring good extraction of colour and ripe tannin. The wines were allowed to undergo post fermentation maceration for a total time on skins of between three and four weeks. During this time regular aeration was employed to stabilise colour, integrate the tannin and open up fruit aromatics, downplaying leafier herbal notes and accentuating the aromatic fruit, florals and spice that is the hallmark of great cool climate Syrah. We taste daily to determine the amount of aeration and to determine the optimum time to drain and press. The wine was then filled to French oak barriques (33% new) to complete malolactic fermentation and subsequent maturation for 21 months. The final blend was decided only after a rigorous barrel selection tasting of our very best components. The wine was racked for clarity and to avoid any unnecessary stripping effect, was bottled without any subsequent fining or filtration.
Alc 14% v/v | TA 5.3g/L | pH 3.87 | RS 2g/L