Villa Maria Single Vineyard Twyford Gravels Hawke's Bay Syrah 2021

Villa Maria Single Vineyard Twyford Gravels Hawke's Bay Syrah 2021"Aromas of dark berries and black currant, a layer of white smoke and fresh meats then clove and vanilla spices of barrel. Varietal, youthful and new. On the palate firm dry wine with tannins and acidity touching first. Fruit and wood flavours follow offering contrast and concentration. A wine still developing with a vibrant mouthfeel and lots of texture. On the finish the peppery qualities of the variety begin to emerge, I am glad they are subtle.

"Aromas of dark berries and black currant, a layer of white smoke and fresh meats then clove and vanilla spices of barrel. Varietal, youthful and new. On the palate firm dry wine with tannins and acidity touching first. Fruit and wood flavours follow offering contrast and concentration. A wine still developing with a vibrant mouthfeel and lots of texture. On the finish the peppery qualities of the variety begin to emerge, I am glad they are subtle. Plenty of promise as well with best drinking from 2025 through 2030+" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Sep 2023

"Dense, intense Syrah with cassis. black pepper, dark cherry/berry, liquorice, mixed spice and nutty French oak flavours with a backbone of drying tannins. Vibrant, fresh and youthful wine with a promising future" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Aug 2023

The Twyford Gravels vineyard has produced a Syrah with intensity and structure, with distinct floral, blueberry and black pepper aromas. The palate is defined by sweet dark berries, savoury spice and the trademark Gimblett Gravels minerality. Concentrated yet elegant with defined tannins, this wine will age gracefully for 10+ years.

2021 was an outstanding Hawkes Bay vintage and will be remembered for a long time due to the high quality of wines produced. Lovely sunny days and heat throughout the growing season was offset by cool night-time temperatures ensuring concentration, ripeness, and good natural acidity in the grapes. Moderated yielding vines were harvested relatively early with the fruit in excellent condition.

The Twyford Gravels vineyard is located right in the middle of the Gimblett Gravels, a small sub-region of Hawkes Bay renowned for producing some of New Zealand's finest red wines. The soil is made up of consistent free draining gravel which ensures naturally low yields and the heat from the sun continues to radiate from the stones throughout the evening promoting ripeness in the berries. The block selected for this single vineyard wine is the stoniest part of the vineyard planted with the Hawkes Bay heritage Limmer clone.

The fruit was hand harvested and half of the fruit destemmed but not crushed and fermented as whole berries and the other half foot stomped in bins and fermented as 100% whole clusters. Gentle hand plunging ensured a soft extraction of colour, flavour and tannin from the fruit and the stems. After 14 days of total maceration, the dry wine was pressed off skin/stems to undergo malolactic fermentation in barrel. Once malolactic was finished, the young wine was racked off lees and returned to French oak barrels (40% new) for 20 months of ageing without any further racking before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.