A pair of powerful and regal Kiwi reds

2016 Craggy Range Matthew Jukes tastes two epic reds from New Zealand's Gimblett Gravels wine growing area.

Matthew Jukes
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published
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936_MW_P00_Wine

2016 Craggy Range, Gimblett GravelsVineyard Syrah, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand£21.99,nzhouseofwine.co.uk;£22.75, vinvm.co.uk; £24.00,thenewzealandcellar.co.uk

I am fortunate to have received an annual tasting case from the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association. This year the vintage under the spotlight is 2016 and there were eight blended reds and four syrahs in the dozen. Andrew Caillard MW selected the wines.

I must take my hat off to this industry body because, if more wine regions in the world undertook these thoughtful initiatives, wine writers would be able to taste more widely than we do without having to incur prohibitively punitive travel expenses. Interestingly, Craggy Range had two bottles in the box and they ended up being my top two wines. I tasted this pair again at the annual New Zealand tasting in London within days of my first tasting and they shone brightly, taking every corner of the country into account, not just Gimblett Gravels.

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Gimblett Gravels makes the most structured and age-worthy of all Kiwi red-wine styles and 2016 is a powerful and focused vintage. In addition to the epic, peppery, blood-drenched syrah, with its smoky kindling touches and succulent core, the 2016 Craggy Range Sophia (about £50, arriving into Jeroboams, Farr Vintners and Hedonism imminently), a merlot/cabernet franc/cabernet sauvignon blend, looked both regal and belligerent, hinting at greatness beneath its earth-driven, not fruit-driven, suit of armour. Both wines will be drinking within five years, but they will make the long haul, too.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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