Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 2014
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Suckling
James - Decanter
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Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Spice ? lots and lots of spice here. There's loads of white pepper as well that's dusted across raspberries and plums. The oak is played just right, really letting the fruit take center stage. The palate has plenty of textural interest, ripe plums and red cherries and fine yet sturdy tannins that carry understated power. This is an absolute beauty! Drink now to 2025+.
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Decanter
Named after the famous British sports car, Bullnose Syrah was first produced in Hawke’s Bay in 1990. Deep and impenetrable in the glass, this is a cooler, black olive style of Syrah rather than a typical New World black cherry and berry fruit-forward wine. Fresh, crunchy and with some lovely depth and purity on the palate, this balances vibrancy with elegance and understatement. A fine expression of New Zealand Syrah that has excellent ageing potential.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Bullnose Syrah I tried was a tank sample just about to be bottled and released the week I tasted it. It gives notes of ripe crushed cherries, black raspberries, Sichuan pepper and underbrush with quite an earthy undercurrent. Medium-bodied, it has loads of fruit in the mouth, complimented by just enough pepper and spice with a good backbone of very silky tannins and lively acidity carrying off a good long finish.
Range:91-92
Other Vintages
2020-
Parker
Robert - Decanter
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Suckling
James
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Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine - Decanter
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Parker
Robert
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Spirits
Wine & -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
An eclectic region on the east coast of the North Island, Hawkes Bay extends from wide, fertile, coastal plains, inland, to the coast range, whose peaks reach as high as 5,300 feet. While the flatter areas were historically more popular because they are easier to cultivate, their alluvial soils can be too fertile for vines. In the late 20th century, the drive for quality led growers to the hills where soils are free-draining, limestone-rich and more suited to producing high quality wines.
Over the passing of time, the old Ngaruroro River laid down deep, gravelly beds, which were subsequently exposed after a huge flood in the 1860’s. In the 1980s growers identified this stretch, which continues for approximately 800 ha, and named it the Gimblett Gravels. The zone has proven to be ideal for the production of excellent red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
Today the area takes well-earned recognition for its Bordeaux blends and other reds. Expressive of intense stewed red and black berry with gentle herbaceous characters, Gimblett Gravels wines are suggestive of their cool climate origin, and on par with other top-notch Bordeaux blends around the globe.
Chardonnay is the top white grape in Hawkes Bay, making elegant wines, strong in stone fruit character. Sauvignon blanc comes in close behind, notable for its tropical, fruit forward qualities.