Hawkes Bay is located on the eastern coast of the North Island and experiences some of the highest heat accumulation in the country. Hawkes Bay’s climate has been described as almost perfect for growing Syrah, and the Hawkes Bay Winegrowers Inc describe syrah as “the most exciting wine produced in the Hawkes Bay”. Hawkes Bay has a total winegrowing area of 4947ha, of which 34% is Syrah, making up 86% on New Zealand’s total syrah production. 

Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2009

This wine was as clean cut as they come, reminiscent of an over-produced mass-market wine, it had little if any ‘character’ but was pleasant to drink. The traditional black pepper aroma of Syrah’s from Hawkes Bay was reduce to a hint of spice and fruit flavours were vinous and a touch green. This is indicative of a poor year, with fruit lacking concentration and having unripe phenolics. Craggy Range report that 2009 was close to a complete disaster with moderate temperatures and high rainfall leading to high disease pressure and inconsistent berry development.

Brookfields Hillside Syrah 2009

Grown on a north facing slope this syrah seemed to have not suffered the same lack of intensity as the Craggy Range syrah, although slight vegetative and bitter notes of the finish are indicative of a poor season. The concentration of flavour and complex array of character made this wine an excellent example of what Hawkes Bay can produce, even in poor vintages. Brookfields maintain low volumes so they can focus on high quality over quantity and it shows in the care with which this wine has been made.

Te Awa Syrah 2010

This wine had a huge hole in the mid palate, which indicates to me that complexity and finesse have been forsaken in favour of upfront fruit flavours to appeal to the mass market. With little or no structure and a complete lack of character this wine is unlikely to age elegantly making the $35 price tag rather steep for a drink-now wine. Sulphur and mercaptans on the nose are indicative of an oxidative winemaking style applied without sufficient attention to detail. Perhaps this is because Ant McKenzie leaves the Syrah for long periods in barrel without sulphur.

Trinity Hill Syrah 2010

This quintessential Hawkes Bay syrah has all the right indicators of a quality producer – intense aromatics, complex flavours and a robust structure make this wine a great candidate for 3-6 years careful cellaring. Sadly this wine is still a little closed, with primary and secondary fruit character only just beginning to open up and develop tertiary characters. After 20 minutes in the glass a touch of parma ham on the nose gave hints at this wine’s potential. This wine is blended with a small amount of Viognier for added aromatic complexity and this shows on the nose.

Ngatarawa Glazebrook Syrah 2010

This wine was elegant and easy to drink but lacked a bit of concentration and primary fruit character. Peter mentioned that 2010 had very high disease pressure due to high humidity and rainfall during the growing season. This may be why the wine lacked primary fruit flavours and savoury tertiary characters dominated. I’m a big fan of Ngatarawa wines but this wine was an exception, but for the price it was still a pleasing drink.

Te Mata Estate Woodthorpe Syrah 2010

This wine was exceptionally easy drinking. Harsh phenolics and bitterness had been toned down to ‘consumer’ levels, and primary fruit flavours were rich and tasty. This wine was paler than the others, which indicates that maceration was limited to just enough for colour stability. Given the low phenolics and lack of the classic black pepper notes this wine was likely racked soon after fermentation with minimal lees contact and post ferment maceration. I would also hazard a guess that heavy handed fining/filtering was utilised to keep this wine clean and easy to drink.

Overall Impressions

The wines in this flight had a number of commonalities, such as peppery notes on the nose and rich dark fruit flavours, however there was enough variation to demonstrate that Hawkes Bay could make a range of styles successfully. It is more common in new world regions for a range of styles of wine to be made (because a dominant popular style has not yet emerged like it has with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc), leading to conflicting messages to consumers. As such, this may be why syrah has not (yet) taken off in Hawkes Bay as much as could be expected given the ample potential of the region. 

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Introduction

The Riesling challenge was initiated in 2010 to exemplify the influence winemakers have in processing grapes into wine. The challenge was taken up by 12 leading New Zealand winemakers, who each received 4 tonnes of identical grapes, picked on the same day, from the same site (Mud House Glasnevin Rd block, Waipara) and distributed evenly from each part of the vineyard. Each winemaker was then charged with creating the best Riesling they could from the grapes provided (The_Riesling_Challenge 2010).

Seven of the twelve wines were tasted in the flight, which was led by Simon McGeorge from Waipara Hills, who provided winemaking notes and tasting notes for each of the wines.

Paul Bourgeois Riesling Challenge Riesling 2010

This wine was the most lifted of the flight, most likely because it had the lowest residual sugar and highest alcohol, which helped to bring out the aroma. The palate was quite linear and a touch hot from the acid, with crisp apple flavour on the front and a candy aftertaste. These factors are likely due to excessive fining leaving flat and compartmentalised flavours.

Mike Brown Riesling Challenge Riesling 2010

The defining feature of this wine was the lack of phenolic structure. This is a direct result of only utilising free run juice for the final blend and consequently having an unbalanced wine. The acids were sharp as would be expected from free run juice, but surprisingly the high acid didn’t carry the flavours through the palate, which dropped off after the mid-palate. The upfront flavours were pleasant and complex enough to make this a pleasant and easy wine to drink.

Patrick Mateman Riesling Challenge Riesling 2010

This wine was exceptionally easy to drink but had little in the way of interesting flavours. Patrick used the most technical and elaborate techniques to make this wine, including three separate ferments, multiple rackings, acid adjustment and protein fining, and as a result has stripped all character from the wine, leaving it boring but easy on the palate. Acids were at the higher end of the spectrum, but all other metrics were decidedly mid-of-the-range, leading to the conclusion that he made this wine ‘by the book’.

Simon McGeorge Riesling Challenge Riesling 2010

I found this wine bland and boring. Simon was the only winemaker in the flight to fine the must with a casein agent prior to fermentation, which will have helped remove most solids from the juice, leaving a somewhat linear and un-complex wine. The addition of the sweet wine seems to have added only sugar to the mix, resulting in a closed nose with vinous qualities. Additionally, storing the wine for a month at 0^oC may have prevented any secondary or tertiary characters developing post ferment.

Matt Dicey Riesling Challenge Riesling 2010

A slightly higher residual sugar led to lower perception of acids in this wine. The wine had a slight bitterness and strong phenolic structure, most likely from not separating the free run juice from the press cut. As a result he had to add acid to balance phenolics, although a good overall balance was achieved as a result. The winemaking style was not outstanding in any way and neither was the wine.

Larry McKenna Riesling Challenge Riesling 2010

This wine was my favourite of the flight because it had the best balance and yummiest flavours. The wine had the second highest RS of the flight and the lowest alcohol, a style popular for German Rieslings. The light pressing limited phenolic pickup and halting the ferment early left sufficient sugar to balance the high acids nicely. Hints of wet concrete on the nose are indicative of H₂S, which may have come from disulphides being reduced in the low redox conditions under screwcap.

Matt Donaldson Riesling Challenge Riesling 2010

Great concentration of floral, citrus, honey and pear flavours made the wine rich and luscious. With the highest TA of the flight the acids pulled through the high RS to give length and hints of phenolics gave excellent structure. The phenolic pickup likely came from the time taken to freeze the grapes prior to crushing, because he only took free run juice for the fermentation. Personally I found this wine was too sweet for a table wine, and not sweet enough for a dessert wine, and I felt that more acids would have helped cut through the sickly sweetness better.

Overall Impressions

Each of these wines was different but all had undertones of the same varietal composition. The expression of the grapes in these wines was unavoidable and though each wine was different, all had similar aroma and flavour descriptors of pear, honey and apples.

I found this tasting most interesting because it demonstrated the actual effects on flavour, aroma and mouth feel of a variety of winemaking decisions and highlighted some definite do’s and do not’s. Particularly interesting was that all winemakers chose gentle pressing or only free run cuts to avoid phenolic pickup which is undesirable in Riesling. This choice will have also maximised acid intensity to help carry the flavour through the varying degrees of residual sugar.

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