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Visiting
New Zealand's
wine regions
Part 9: Craggy Range Tasting
In the previous part of this series I described my visit to Craggy
Range; now it's time for the wines. As well as an extensive tasting at
the winery with Rod Easthope, I'm also including notes from two other
recent tastings with Steve Smith in the UK, one from March 2007 (*)
and the other from May 2008 (**). I'll let the wines speak for
themselves.
Riesling
New Zealand has underachieved with Riesling, but Craggy
seem to be making real strides with this variety.
Craggy Range Rapaura Road Vineyard Riesling 2007
Marlborough
Lovely aromatics here: floral, delicately limey and with a touch
of honey. Very pure. The palate is dry with nice texture and some
minerality. Focused, pure and quite long: a lovely, classy wine.
91/100
Craggy Range Te Muna Road Riesling 2007
Martinborough
Limey, minerally nose is quite tight, with nice focus and purity.
The palate is limey with high acidity and lovely fruit. There’s a
bit of sweetness (7–8 g residual sugar), but it’s countered by the
high acidity. Tangy with a bit of grapefruit character. 90/100
Craggy
Range Te Muna Riesling 2006 Martinborough, New Zealand**
Craggy have been convinced enough about Riesling to make four
single vineyard wines each year. ‘It the market didn’t want to
take it’, says Steve Smith, ‘we were prepared to drink it’. This
one is rich, limey, lemony and fresh with lovely presence. It’s
crisp and minerally, but there’s some residual sugar balancing the
high acidity. It’s like an intense Kabinett in style. 91/100
Craggy Range Fletcher Family Vineyard Riesling 2007
Marlborough
Honeyed, aromatic nose. The palate has grapefruity, lemony fruit
and it’s really juicy, with high acidity. Tangy and intense, with
mouthfilling flavours. Tastes just off-dry in a very rich style. 12
grams/litre residual sugar; 12.5% alcohol. 92/100
Craggy Range Glasnevin Gravels Riesling 2007 Waipara
This is interesting stuff, made in a Mosel Kabinett style: 24 g/l
sugar and just 9% alcohol. Fresh, aromatic limey nose is quite pure
with some sweetness. The palate is off-dry with rich, sweet fruit
countered well by acidity. Lovely wine with real focus and purity.
91/100
Craggy Range Glasnevin Gravels Riesling 2006 Waipara*
This is the best selling wine at the cellar door in the summer.
It’s fresh, sweet and just off-dry with a delicate limey character.
88/100
Sauvignon
Blanc
Craggy
Range Avery Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand **
This vineyard, on classic stony Wairau Valley Soils, used to
belong to Villa Maria. Craggy deliberately don’t make their wines in
the big thiol style. Really aromatic stuff with a fresh, gently herby
nose that leads to a richly textured palate that’s grassy with
lovely minerally, stony flavours. Delicious. 91/100
Craggy Range Old Renwick Road Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Marlborough*
(tasted blind) Ripe fruity nose is quite forward, showing sweet
herby fruit with some tropical notes. The palate is forward and fruity
with a likeable personality. Lots of flavour here, with a bit of a
serious side, too. 88/100
Craggy
Range Te Muna Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Martinborough*
(tasted blind) Slightly smoky, minerally nose. The palate shows
quite fat, broad fruit with herb tinges. Finishes quite herby. Good
concentration and very fruity with it. 86/100
Chardonnay
and Viognier
Craggy Range Viognier 2007 Gimblett Gravels
After a 12 h press cycle this is fermented and aged in older
barrels with high solids and without cultured yeasts, in a reductive
fashion. Amazingly rich nutty, peachy aromatics. Brilliant lemony
intensity, along with rich texture and pear and nutty notes. There’s
even a bit of tannic spice, too. Delicious and very long. 93/100
Craggy Range Chardonnay ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’
2006 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay
Whole-bunch pressed with oxidative handling, fermented in barrel
with solids without added yeasts. Rich, dense, toasty nutty nose is
broad, intense and complex. The palate is concentrated and bold with a
lovely complex toastiness alongside fresh, bright fruit. Great purity,
focus and class here: a very stylish effort. Its future progress will
be interesting to track. 93/100
Craggy Range Chardonnay ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’
2004 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay*
Made from clone 95 and a bit of Mendoza (which Steve doesn’t
really like because it is overly fruity). This is fresh and complex
with vivid lemony-edged fruit and a bit of classy, bready, toasty oak.
90/100
Pinot
Noir
Craggy is now the largest producer of Pinot Noir in
Central Otago – here are three of the wines they make. These wines
were not finished as I tasted them so a range of scores is given for
each. All are hand-picked, and then destemmed. Rod says that they have
given up on cold soaks. All are fermented with indigenous yeasts and
are punched down. This is an extremely impressive line up of wines,
showing fantastic fruity purity and quite a bit of elegance, as well
as a variation in style that presumably has to do with the vineyard
sites – terroir, if you want to use this term.
Craggy Range Calvert Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007
Central Otago
This is from a vineyard in the warm region of Bannockburn in
Central Otago, and the vineyard is a joint venture between three top
producers: Craggy, Felton Road and Pyramid Valley Vineyards. The fruit
goes three ways, so it’s interesting to see what each party does
with it. This is a deep coloured wine with a fantastic nose of sweet,
intense dark fruit, together with some nice meaty, spicy complexity.
Very seductive. The palate shows great purity and focus: it is ripe
and intense with a bit of prickle and some nice spicy depth. Lovely
freshness and expression. Rod describes this as ‘more medium weight,
ethereal’. 93–95/100
Craggy Range Zebra Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007 Central
Otago
From Bendigo, which is a warmer site. Shy on the nose. The palate
shows nice purity of dark fruits with a savoury, brooding sort of
character. Nice stuff: quite rich, but also reasonably restrained. Rod
describes this as a ‘brooding blockbuster’, but says that it is
currently ‘closed in on itself’. 91–93/100
Craggy Range The Sluicings Pinot Noir 2007 Central
Otago
This is from a vineyard in Bannockburn. A dark colour, it has
sweet dark fruit aromatics with some jammy, meaty notes. The palate is
rich and sweetly textured with a delicious savoury edge to the
focused, expressive fruit. An extremely elegant wine. ‘There’s a
silky-like sheen that runs through the palate’, says Rod.
92–94/100
Craggy Range Te Muna Road Pinot Noir 2007
Martinborough
Beautifully focused aromatics of smooth, elegant red and black
fruits with real intensity and purity. The palate shows focus and
depth with smooth, restrained yet sweet fruitand some nice spicy
structure. This is a deliciously elegant, pure wine. ‘Far more
structural, this dips into truffles and earth with a couple of years
of bottle age’, says Rod, ‘while the central Otago Pinots stay in
the fruit segment of the aroma wheel with hints if meat’ 93–95/100
Craggy
Range Te Muna Pinot Noir 2005 Martinborough, New Zealand**
Elegantly aromatic with herby red fruits and cherry characters.
Really nicely balanced with bright acidity and freshness. Berries and
cherries dominate with just a hint of sappiness, as well as a bit of
spiciness. 93/100
Craggy Range Aroha Pinot Noir 2007
This is a reserve selection. It’s deep coloured with incredible
aromatic intensity: ripe, meaty dark fruits with some spiciness.
It’s smooth and refined with admirable purity. The palate is hugely
concentrated with lots of red and black fruit, tightwound around a
core of smooth tannins. Real elegance and power here, hand in hand.
94–96/100
Craggy Range Aroha Pinot Noir 2006*
Sweet, pure and intense with lovely richness and complexity.
Simply thrilling with smooth ripe red fruits and sheer elegance.
94/100
Syrah
Craggy Range Syrah Block 14 2006 Gimblett Gravels
This has long maceration, with 4–5 weeks on the skins. There’s
no need to fine Syrah here because it starts its life with fine
tannins. Deep coloured. Wonderfully expressive white pepper/meaty
nose, together with fresh dark fruits. The palate is fresh and peppery
but with smooth sweet dark fruits. Thrilling. 93/100
Craggy Range Syrah Block 14 2005 Gimblett Gravels*
Sweet, intense, lush ripe dark fruits nose with a meaty, peppery,
spicy overlay. Beautifully aromatic. The palate is gorgeously fresh
with a lovely peppery, spicy edge to the fresh black fruits.
Thrillingly focused. 94/100
Craggy
Range Le Sol 2006 Gimblett Gravels
This is made from the same vineyard as Block 14, but there’s a
bit of selection in the vineyard and harvest is three weeks later. The
berries are dimpled like golf balls, but there’s no shriveling,
apparently. Smooth dark fruits nose with dark cherry, meatiness and
some black pepper notes. Brooding, pure and intense. The palate is
concentrated and pure with lovely lush fruit and real intensity. The
thick black fruits are kept fresh by spicy tannins. 95/100
Craggy
Range Le Sol 2005 Gimblett Gravels*
It’s concentrated and ripe but showing lovely balance. It’s
fresh with bright dark fruits and a palate that combines richness with
brightness, as well as a hint of pepper. A fantastic wine showing
beautiful balance. 95/100
Bordeaux
Blends
Craggy Range ‘The Quarry’ 2006 Gimblett Gravels,
Hawkes Bay
This can’t be made every vintage. It’s mostly Cabernet
Sauvignon with some Merlot and Malbec, and this was still in barrel
when I tasted it. It has a wonderfully dark, intense brooding nose of
blackcurrant, chocolate and spice. It’s ripe but fresh with some
minerality. The palate is dense, intense and ripe with fantastic
spiciness and concentration. The oak melds well with the fruit.
Thrilling. 95–96/100
Craggy Range ‘The Quarry’ 2001 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay*
Intense, dark, spicy and earthy with lovely complexity. The palate
is spicy, rich and earthy with remarkable density and power. Firm
tannins and real potential here for future development. Concentrated,
long, thrilling. 95/100
Craggy
Range Te Kahu Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec 2004 Gimblett Gravels,
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand**
‘I’m a Bordeaux lover’, says Steve Smith. This vineyard, as
well as being the source for Craggy’s Le Sol Syrah, is responsible
for the Bordeaux reds, and this is a fantastic wine that tastes of
Gimblett Gravels. Dark, gravelly, sweetly fruited, minerally nose
that’s brooding and rich. The palate is quite earthy and rich with
grippy tannins underneath the savoury dark fruits. Serious stuff with
lovely depth. 93/100
Craggy
Range Te Kahu Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec 2005 Gimblett Gravels,
Hawkes Bay*
Smooth but fresh dark fruits nose, with a bit of creaminess and
some chocolate, but otherwise fresh and fruit dominated. Smooth,
concentrated, beautifully judged fruit on the palate with a bit of
spicy oak influence and a hint of menthol. Classy and dark with lovely
focus. 92/100
Craggy
Range Merlot 2005 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay*
Fresh, vivid pure bright red fruits with a bit of black. The
palate is really vivid and fresh with lovely pure fruit and some nice
chalky, spicy tannins. Good acid and purity, with some grippy
structure. 92/100
Craggy
Range Sophia 2005 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay*
Smooth, sweet red and black fruits nose is very classy and
brooding. Concentrated, rich, intense palate with a lovely density of
fruit and a long, structured spicy finish. Ripe but nicely focused
with a bright future ahead of it. 93/100
*Tasted March 2007
**Tasted May 2008
Othwerwise, all wines tasted November 2007
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