At Caro’s last night, Destiny Bay co-owners, Mike and Sean Spratt hosted an evening of stories and showcasing two exceptional vintages: the critically acclaimed 2014 and the debut of the 2024 vintage. Mike has written a book – “Forged in Fire” about the family’s Waiheke exploits, and shared a few of the tales about the birth of the label with us.
It seems that the label was initially going to be known as ‘Rocky Bay’, but Mike thought “that sounded too much like we were growing oysters”. In conversations about the site, it was commented that “the land had chosen them” – like it was their destiny. The name resonated, and stuck. The comet logo represents not only the serendipity of how they came to find the land, but the winery’s uncompromising commitment to quality.
Sean is the winemaker, and confesses that his personal favourite of the wines is the Mystae. It is quite close to being a true representation of what is growing in the vineyard – the blend being “pretty much the percentages of what our vineyard is planted as”. He laughs when he says “It would make my life a lot easier if we just made this one wine – I could just pick it all and put it all in together!”
When they open the tanks, the ‘free run juice’ is what gets taken out before the grapes are even pressed. Destiny Bay pay close attention to the ‘press fractions’ though. Their meticulous attention to detail in sorting allows them to know that these harder presses will be clean, and crucially, contain some really interesting phenolic and tannin characters. In particular, they get high concentrations of Beta–damascenones – the holy grail of aromatic compounds.
Starting to taste the wines – this is the first showing on the new vintage. Here are my thoughts. These aren’t ’formal reviews’ – it would be good to try these in my usual review setting.
Destinae 2024 – 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 12% Malbec, 11% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot. A dark garnet red shade in the glass. The bouquet has blackberry, plum, cherry, tapenade and lovely floral notes of lavender and rose. A touch of wood – cedar and acacia. Quite structured, with fine tannins and a linear acidity. Lush and juicy too, that offsets the youthful tightness.
Mystae 2024 – 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 7% Malbec, 7% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot. Shows a deeper colour and has a softer perfume. Boysenberry, cassis and liquorice. Youthfully tight just now – but a well-balanced structure, with a drag of tannin and driving acidity. More so than the Destinae – this needs time.
Magna Praemia 2024 – 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 6% Malbec, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot. A bright claret red colour in the glass. The nose is so Cabernet, with blackcurrant, graphite, damson plum and violets. The palate is very complete – detailed and elegant. Quite a grip of tannin but there’s also a lightness of touch here, without too much reliance on concentration or weight.
Destinae 2014 – 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 18% Malbec, 13% Cabernet Franc, 7% Petit Verdot. Showing a delightful development after years in bottle. Cherry pie, plum, nutmeg and peppercorn flavours, alongside some secondary characters like a smoky incense, and a mushroom/earthiness. Lots of plush fruit lingering into a lengthy finish.
Mystae 2014 – 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 11% Malbec, 9% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot. Again, some good development here – good to see after I felt it hard to get into the new release. Well-balanced, walking a tightrope of acidity, tannin and fruit. Some toasty oak frames the dark berry flavours. Is there a touch of heat here – I think this, of the older trio, still has some ay to go to hit a peak drinking window.
Magna Praemia 2014 – 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec. The signature fragrance – utterly beguiling – stops you and you find it hard to move on to tasting – the aromas are that good. This is a transformation on the 2024 expression – which seems very primary when I return to it afterwards. A touch of mocha. I find a level of polish and smooth shine to this. Very well-integrated and smooth, with a seamless precision.
