Craggy Range Le Sol Gimblett Gravels Vineyard 2024
- 98
- $201.99
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Syrah from a heritage MS clone brought to New Zealand in the 1840s, planted in the stoniest reaches of the Gimblett Gravels Estate and hand-tended 13-14 times through the season. The three blocks were fermented separately — Block 10 with 25% whole bunch in French oak, Block 11 in concrete Nico Velo, Block 14 in wooden cuve — averaging 22 days on skins before 18 months’ maturation in French and Austrian oak, 29% new. Red peppercorn melds with sweet cedar to start, some violet florality appears with air, along with clove, star anise and kirsch. The fruit emerges with a swirl of the glass in black and red cherry, plum and blackberry pie before savoury au jus and flickers of liquorice add to the complexity. There’s some bitter tones in spent coffee grounds and dark chocolate too. With some time in the glass, this really clicks into place with the pepper and baking spices and other savoury components beautifully weaving through the fruit to create a complex, beguiling and alluring perfume. It’s elegant, focused and polished in the mouth from the outset with an incredibly restrained and seamless texture. While fine, it’s eminently intense, driving and firmly structured, flowing through the palate as if being drawn along by its pepper-infused grainy tannins and savoury lashings of surging acidity. The length is seemingly endless, with some attractively bitter tones in cocoa powder and dark chocolate. This is such an impactful and impressive release of complexity, elegance, intensity and length. This will age brilliantly over several decades for those who can wait.
Tom Kline is a wine writer, reviewer, presenter, and educator based in Victoria, Australia. He is the Australian correspondent for the internationally respected publications Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy and Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux, where he highlights the top tier of Australian wine for a global audience. Tom also writes for leading outlets including Decanter (UK), Wine Spectator (US), and Halliday Magazine, among others. An experienced wine show judge and WSET educator, he has authored several consumer-focused wine courses aimed at making wine more accessible and engaging. In 2023, Tom was awarded Best Published Feature Article or Wine Column at the prestigious Wine Communicator Awards, presented by Wine Communicators of Australia.
