Mills Reef Gimblett Gravels Elspeth Syrah 2018

Mills Reef Gimblett Gravels Elspeth Syrah 2018This superb Syrah from an exceptional vintage brims with intense flavour and complexity, displaying luscious boysenberry, white pepper spice and liquorice, on a beautifully integrated and refined palate. Eminently drinkable now, it will also greatly reward cellaring for longer term enjoyment. The grapes for this distinguished wine were grown exclusively in our highly regarded Mere Road Vineyard in the celebrated Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District

This superb Syrah from an exceptional vintage brims with intense flavour and complexity, displaying luscious boysenberry, white pepper spice and liquorice, on a beautifully integrated and refined palate. Eminently drinkable now, it will also greatly reward cellaring for longer term enjoyment.

The grapes for this distinguished wine were grown exclusively in our highly regarded Mere Road Vineyard in the celebrated Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District of Hawkes Bay. Elspeth represents our top tier of wines produced from our own vineyards in the Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay. The fruit is hand-picked and only under the Elspeth label when fruit is of exceptional quality. Our winemaking team share the philosophy of a hands-on, no expense spared approach to produce these fine award winning wines. The range is limited to chardonnay, Syrah and Bordeaux style reds.

Hand-picked on 27th March 2018, the grapes were destemmed, retaining whole berries, which were cold soaked for 3 days prior to fermentation. Fermentation proceeded for 60% of the fruit in an open-top fermenter, following inoculation with a selected yeast. The remaining 40% of fruit was placed into Integrale barrels and fermentation allowed to commence under the action of naturally present indigenous yeasts. For cap management during fermentation, the French integrale barrels were rotated twice daily, while the open-top fermenters were plunged twice daily. Following completion of fermentation, the wines were allowed 9 days alcohol soak before being pressed off their skins and transferred to quality French oak hogshead barrels (33% new) for 17 months of aging. The final blend was then composed from selected barrels, requiring no fining, with just a light coarse-pad filtration to polish the wine prior to bottling on 19 September 2019 under Stelvin screwcap.