Back to our regular monthly tasting group, and I’m liking this move to tasting a range on a theme, but now at top quality restaurant venues. Wine, to me, is really meant to be drunk in these situations – with a group around a table, sharing the wine, stories and food. A night of laughter, discovery, fine food and friendship. Tonight’s theme is Syrah – with the ABA bit indicating ‘anywhere but Australia’. I’d say, for once, this theme was stuck to. OK, I brought along a Chardonnay (yes, I know). But that was as well as, not instead of..! With a dozen booked in, and you know it’s all one varietal, a little variance is OK – to kick off. Once we’re under way, it’s all straight down the line.
Our brave leader Peter has convinced Rebecca Schmidt of Cazador Restaurant to allow us in with our bottles under a very generous BYO fee, and we’re all booked in for the ‘Feast’ option of multi course gourmet delights. When we arrive, they promise to keep filling our table with food, and that is certainly the case as the night progresses. Cazador cures their own meats and the first few titbits of pork and fennel sausage, bresaola, pickles and breads set a tone of simple, fine-tuned flavours that continue long into the night. A couple of stand-outs were a plate of seared wild venison with crunchy kale greens and labneh; and an exquisite quail and fino broth in a tiny sipping cup.
Onto the wines. We went oldest to youngest this time, and that seemed to work. As with almost all of these evenings, there’s a near double-up. We have both a 2006 and a 2008 of the Passage Rock Reserve Syrah. This winery has grown its reputation off the back of the superb Syrah they produce, and these two older vintages show why. The younger version had plenty of acidity, with a crisp, ripe edge to the lovely plum and elderberry fruit through the palate. The 2008 (labelled David’s Syrah which was a nice touch, thank you) had maybe not been cellared quite as well, and showing a little tired, but drinkable nonetheless.
Cambridge Rd winery in Martinborough isn’t somewhere that I’ve explored very much – yet. This 2010 Cambridge Rd Syrah is excellent. You can see why someone like Dr Neil McCallum of Dry River has said that he believes Syrah will be Martinborough’s best wine in the future. With that savoury, tannin-led body that is a feature of the town’s Pinot, this has everything in the right place. Great juice, bags of tannin, and very balanced through to a long, sweetening finish. Good stuff.
Another 2010 is around the table next, and again, I just don’t see where Providence in Matakana gets its fan club from. The Providence ‘Kuwata Vintage’ Syrah 2010 is a special vintage where an iconic Japanese baseball player came to assist in the vintage and has the labels named after him. Again, I find myself disappointed with these old world, dusty, dry reds that lack zip and vitality. At over $200 a bottle, I just wonder who this stuff is for? Not my cup of tea.
We are totally back on track with the next wine – another special vintage bottle. Mills Reef are well regarded for their Elspeth wines, and will often release, under that tier, multiple varietals in a good year. However, not often does a single vineyard get bottled under the range, so the Elspeth 2013 ‘Elspeth Trust Vineyard’ Syrah is distinctive in its red label. That great vintage of 2013 in Hawke’s Bay, and, I believe, a vineyard no longer owned by Mills Reef, make this one of a reducing number of stock to be enjoyed. Great Gimblett Gravels fruit, superbly ripe and succulent. The right balance of tannin, stony minerality and bright acidity.
I’m not convinced of the heritage of Chateau Marsyas 2013 – that it is actually a Syrah. Alienor, who has brought it along this red from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, admits that it is a red blend “containing some Syrah”. Ha. I like it anyway. There’s a nice tannin profile, and a savoury, leather and liquorice edge to add to the peppery, broad red/black-fruited palate.
We’d discussed before about doing a ‘Cornas’ tasting in the group, and there’s a couple of wines from this region coming up next. Just in time for the ‘meaty’ section of the meal. I’m intrigued to see what quail hearts will be like. I’ve had chicken hearts recently and liked those, but these just seem weird. Like something you eat just for the novelty factor. They look like black olives, and taste like a kebab. I mean, I don’t really see the point. The first of the two Cornas wines from the northern Rhone – Michelas St Jemms ‘Les Murettes’ 2018 is rustic and full-bodied, with a distinctive provencal herb note on the nose.
I’m getting a sense of whole bunch in the winemaking, with spice and black pepper. The second is a decent step up – Domaine Lionnet ‘Pur Granit’ 2019 and has the most of that characterful violets floral aromas so typical of great Syrah. Black cherry, bramble and liquorice on the palate, with black tea tannin notes.
Another 2019 wine also finds much more favour with me as it crosses my path – a Cote Rotie. Domaine Rostaing Cote Rotie Ampodium 2019 has great elegance, with a smoky, spicy, floral nose and a really focussed, detailed palate filled with raspberry and cherry concentration, but also an earthy minerality. Squeezing plenty in, the wine seems to expand in the glass, with now mocha, tapenade and baking spices. This is delicious, knocking the Cornas out of the park.
We’re back into Hawke’s Bay for the youngest wines of the night. Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2020 has a bit of a wait ahead for its best day in the sun. This youthful drop really needs to be put away for another few years before it is going to be showing its best. However, the potential is there – with a crunchy, robust layer of fruit, gnarly tannins and an earthy edge. It’s all edges actually, but with some muscle. Another young Hawke’s Bay wine comes courtesy of Ollie Powrie, who I used to bump into all the time when he was Villa Maria’s regional viticulture guru. Chateau Garage Syrah 2021 is even more coltish, with a pop of fruit and a nervous rush of succulent fruit, grippy tannin and a bowl-you-over rush of acidity. It’s an excited puppy of a wine – not without its charm, and it did, to be fair, settle down a bit by the end of the evening.
As we thought we were done, someone (other than myself, who played their hand very early on) produced a magical ‘second bottle’. This was The Hay Paddock 2006 Syrah from Waiheke, which took us perfectly back in a circle from where we’d begun. This is the wine that brought Chris Canning the Trophy for Best Syrah at IWSC, with his first vintage no less. It’s a great Syrah, a poster boy for the variety in New Zealand. Perfume, white pepper, spiced plum, violets, smoked meat, red berries, walnut and amazing length on the finish. Worthy of the accolades.
