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Fast Facts: Variety: Shiraz Region: Hawkes Bay Country: New Zealand Winemaker: Steve Smith Closure: Cork Cost: $85AUD Source: Friend Winery Website: Craggy Range |
I had a chance to take a very quick blind taste of this wine earlier tonight and I’ve been thinking about it in the hours since.
Tasting Note: Deep purple in colour. Nose is vibrant, lots of blueberry, liquorice, spice, blackberry and some chocolate. At first I thought the palate was a bit oak heavy but it is good quality oak and it was less obvious and seemed in balance on the second taste. Fine tannins, excellent structure – it should age beautifully.
When to Drink: I don’t have all that much experience with aged New Zealand Syrah, but I felt this has the structure and fruit depth to drink well now and over the next 6-8 years.
Verdict: It is a really classy wine, but the question was – is it worth the hefty price tag of between $65 to $85 AUD? I wasn’t certain straight away, but the more I thought about it, this is a world class Syrah and is probably worth that level of money. 92 points.
Craggy Range are way way way too heavy with the charry French oak for my tastes. I like the block 14 better than Le Sol quite often too. The 2001 Block 14 was great. I’ll prolly try a 2004 B14 over the weekend.
GW
Mr Walsh,
No doubt this had a pretty hefty touch of oak to it and at first I thought it was too much, but there is great depth of fruit as well. I haven’t tried previous vintages so I can’t comment if the oak treatment is any better or worse than previous efforts.
I haven’t tried the Block 14 before, but I will have to give it a go sometime.
Craggy’s whole line up this year is fantastic. The oak I dont notice except in the chardonnay – which I feel is their only weak suit. 2004 Block 14 is a fantastically refined wine, drinking super even now. 100 points, maybe more
Hi Craig,
I did try the wine blind, so I wasn’t seeing it just because CR has a bit of a reputation for oak overuse.
You and your crazy 109 point system 😉 The 109 point system even rated (the briefest possible) mention on my scoring page in the top right hand corner.