The NZ Fine Wine Tour - Hawke’s Bay Craggy Range Tastings and Photo Essay
From Wednesday February 8th through Monday 20th I joined Masters of Wine Jancis Robinson, Andrea Pritzker on the inaugural Fine Wines of New Zealand tour. Nick Ryan joined us from the Wellington leg onwards. The journey began with a day and evening at Man O’ War on Auckland’s Waiheke Island. Our trip then took us to The Landing in the Bay of Islands then down to Hawkes Bay, the Wairarapa, Marlborough, North Canterbury and Central Otago.
Hawkes Bay wines tasted - Craggy Range, Trinity Hill, Bilancia
Craggy Range
PN Te Muna 2019
Youthful, ripe, fruity and complex, some bottle harmony and great fruit quality. Pure, silky and fresh with lovely tannins and med+ acid line. Delicious, fresh and lengthy. Plush and fresh. Lovely.
93 Points
PN Te Muna 2020
Savoury layer to the bouquet touches the nose first then oak. It's a lovely wine with a core of power, the finesse will come in time. Plums and dark cherry, dried herb and even some black-currant moments. A wine that will continue to age.
94 Points
Te Muna Pinot Noir 2021
Really lovely bouquet and palate, complete, youthful and plush. A lovely core of fleshy, ripe core of fruits, great tannin structure and acid harmony. Great length and power.
95 Points
Aroha Pinot Noir 2019
Lovely perfume with a seductive allure of floral quality. Mushroom and earthy, almost sweet smelling. Ripe sweet fruit flavours, fine soft chalk tannins with acidity support contrast the push of fruit flavours.
93 Points
Aroha Pinot Noir 2020
Ever so slightly more savoury with a whisper of dried herb then a stony soil quality. Really lovely on the palate, a lively wine with coarse silk tannins and medium+ acid line. Taut and savoury, youthful and lengthy, rather delicious
95 Points
Aroha Pinot Noir 2021
A complete wine with a delicious core of ripe red berry fruits and dark plums, vanilla-spice and whisper of dried herb. There's a youthful pause on the palate then the fruits begin to layer in softening the palate adding length. This wine does not lack power, Will age gracefully.
96 Points
Le Sol Syrah 2021
Amazing colour with an equally amazing bouquet, really lovely perfume with a raspberry cherry bouquet then oak layers with an amyl-nitrite moment. Taut, ripe, juicy, fleshy and with power at the core. Delicious, fresh and complex. This is a fantastic wine. Firm tannins, backbone of acidity and a lengthy energised finish. Lovely finish. Very young, will be amazing.
96 Points
Sophia blend 2021
83% Merlot, 17% CF, separate blocks, 17 months in oak. Merlot with muscle and power, CF with finesse and charm. Delicious, ripe, fresh, aromatic. Great tannins, acidity and length. A wine that needs time, would love to see again in 2-3 years.
95 Points
Dinner @ Terroir after tasting then tour of Hawkes Bay with Warren Gibson hosting
