Smith and Sheth CRU Heretaunga Syrah 2017
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Wilfred
Wong -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
A deep purple to ruby color. Intensely fragrant and perfumed aromatics together with spice, tapenade, and red licorice nuances. On the palate, dark berry flavours mix with florals and spice to provide great complexity. Beautifully focused, rich, and seamless with a long finish and fine-grained tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Smith & Sheth Cru Heretaunga Syrah is authentic and well-focused. TASTING NOTES: This wine is generous with aromas and flavors of savory spices, ripe fruit, and a suggestion of minerality. Pair it with braised meat dishes. (Tasted: March 8, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Plenty of white pepper and fragrant syrah spices, ahead of ripe blueberries and blackberries, as well as cola. The palate has a smooth, plush and mid-weight feel with bright, fresh dark berries, set in ripe, fine tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
This powerful but finessed Syrah starts off with tones of herbs, vanilla and mocha, followed closely by blackberry and plum fruit. With time in the glass, more mineral, graphite and cracked pepper nuances float to the fore. The fruit is plush and silky on the tongue, laden with pepper and spice. The tannins and oak are tight right now, but they should knit together with time. Drink 2022–2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A bit more savory in style than many of the other 2017 Syrahs from the Gravels, the 2017 Cru Heretaunga Syrah features scents of earth, tapenade and dark fruit. It's medium-bodied and velvety, with plums and blueberries coming through on the softly textured finish.
Other Vintages
2021-
James
Suckling
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James
Suckling
We are in the business of creating great wines that bring great pleasure. As contemporary negociants Steve Smith MW and Brian Sheth seek out the exceptional. Hand selecting the best grapes from the finest vineyards. Establishing steadfast relationships with the land, growers and makers who form the DNA of our CRU. The French call it "terroir" – a sense of place. In New Zealand we have our own defining word - Turangawaewae - our place to stand in the world. This word describes the special connection of a people and the land they live, love and work in. Our wines reflect the magic and alchemy of this relationship and the true beauty of these places. It is our privilege to share the pleasure, culture and craft of wine with you.
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.