Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 2018
- Textured, savoury
- Hawke's Bay
This is quite something. Maybe my favourite new world syrah. The intensity of the perfume and the power of the nose took even the pros by surprise. It’s driven by spice and dried flowers, with crackles of tannin and black pepper singing over a chorus of blueberry and licorice. Almost pinot-like in its appeal, this is truly top-shelf winemaking, crafting power through finesse and depth. There’s drive to see it improve for many years, and be utterly stunning whenever you open it. Te Mata is best known for its iconic Coleraine cabernet blend, but I think I might revere the Bullnose even more. Can’t imagine I’m the only one.
Profile
Reviews
Wine Orbit
“Combining exquisite refinement and undeniable power, this latest offering is another stunning beauty under this iconic label. The gorgeously perfumed bouquet shows Black Doris plum, sweet raspberry, violet, olive and toasted almond characters with a whiff of fragrant spice. The palate is concentrated, focused and delightfully flowing with outstanding depth and intensity, while remaining elegant and poised, leading to an extremely long expansive finish. Harmonious, seamless and flawlessly precise. At its best: 2023 to 2035.”
Full price $80.00 from the producer.
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It’s cool, we get it, you want to know absolutely everything about this wine. Well here you go, go nuts.
Specs
- Region
- Hawke's Bay
- Vintage
- 2018
- Cellaring
- 2035
- Preservatives
- Sulphites
- Alcohol by Vol.
- 13.5%
- Closure
- Cork
- Bottle Vol
- 750mL
- Blend Info
- 100% Shiraz
- Serving Temp.
- 17°C
Tasting
From the producer
Deep magenta with an onyx-dark core, Bullnose ’18 has an immediate rich aroma of cinnamon, lavender, ultra-ripe raspberry and black cherry. Lush with plum and boysenberry, the palate has immense depth and is interwoven with black liquorice, spice and velvety chocolate tannins.
Winemaking
Viticulture
Separate parcels of fully ripened syrah grapes were hand-harvested from Te Mata Estate’s Bullnose, Hotspur and Isoceles Vineyards between the 29th and 17th of April 2018
Crafting
The individual lots were each destemmed and given a traditional warm-plunged fermentation. The resulting wines underwent extended maceration on skins before pressing and then a secondary malolactic fermentation. The separate wines were then run to a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barriques for 15 months’ maturation. During this time, they were regularly topped and racked, before egg-white fining, blending and then bottling in September 2019.
Producer
Te Mata
Te Mata is a family-owned winery that has been making vino in Hawke’s Bay for over a century. The low humidity, varied topography, long sunlight hours and gravelly soils of the region have proven perfect for French varieties, particularly cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz. Ranked as a ‘Top Winery of New Zealand’, Te Mata’s wines regularly achieve stratospheric point scores.
Region
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay is New Zealand's oldest wine region, with climate similar to Bordeaux and Sancerre in France. It's no surprise then that their best wines happen to be Cabernet blends and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as Syrah. Unfortunately, most of this gets slurped up within NZ, and we have to bang down doors to get some over to Australia. Lucky for you mofos, we're pretty good at this.
The rules are there ain’t no rules, but here are some foods we think will work pretty well with this wine...
Goes with
Traditional roast lamb
Ingredients
- 2kg leg of lamb, fat trimmed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1.5kg chat potatoes
- Basic gravy (makes 2 to 2 1/2 cups):
- 2 cups beef stock
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 2 1/2 tablespoons plain flour
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Lightly grease roasting pan. Place lamb in pan. Combine oil, rosemary and garlic in a bowl. Rub half the oil mixture over lamb. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Roast lamb, basting with remaining oil mixture every 20 minutes, for 1 hour 15 minutes for medium or until cooked to your liking. Add potatoes to pan for last 40 minutes, turning halfway through cooking.
- Remove lamb from oven. Cover loosely with foil. Stand for 10 minutes. Carve. Serve with potatoes.
- Basic Gravy: Transfer meat (and any vegetables) to a plate to rest. Combine stock and wine in a jug. Skim fat from roasting pan, leaving 1 1/2 tablespoons pan juices and fat in pan. Place pan over high heat. Add flour. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture bubbles and becomes golden. Add juices from resting meat. Slowly add stock mixture to pan, stirring constantly. Cook, scraping pan, for 8 to 10 minutes or until thickened.