2024 Bilancia La Collina Hawkes Bay Syrah

"This is the first wine released since 2021. The 2024 La Collina Syrah is 100% whole-bunch fruit, which is dependent on the year, but this 2024 season was well suited to it. Aromatically, there's raw cocoa, fresh blood, pomegranate molasses, star anise, freshly mowed fennel, crushed rocks, licorice, lavender, raspberry and black tea, with pastrami and hung deli meat lace the edges. Gosh, I love this wine. On the medium-bodied palate, the wine is shaped by ductile, chalky tannins, which serve to enhance the perception of fruit and spice, and these tannins drag out the flavor through the long finish. This is a spectacular wine. It's truly great, and not just in a Hawke's Bay context, nor merely a New Zealand context, but truly great in a global Syrah context. This is a superb example. I love it. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. This terraced place is as beautiful as it tastes in the glass, which brings forth rose petals, asphalt, petrichor, a crack of minerality and ozone. And the wine will only get better as it gains bottle-aged complexity. If the fruit isn't suitable for La Collina, it's not even declassified; it's just not picked. I like the severity and purity of that call." Drink 2025 - 2044

"Beautifully perfumed nose of freshly ground black pepper, cured meat, blue flowers, blood oranges, cherries and crushed stones. The impressive complexity and tension on the palate come with elegance and ease, unfolding with crushed berries, paprika, orange peel and savory, mineral nuances. Very energetic and dynamic. Drink or hold. Screw cap."