Craggy Range releases its top drops from 2024 - how do they taste?
Is it really 25 years since Craggy Range harvested its first grapes and made its first vintage? The official release of the winery's Prestige Collection wines this week on 1 September, marks the 25th vintage for Craggy Range. It's an auspicious release for the winery any way you look at it because this family owned wine brand has the best vintage of the past four years to mark as its 25th year - and 2024 was an exceptional vintage. Volumes were lower than usual and quality was significantly higher.
I have had the pleasure and privilege of tasting every vintage of Craggy Range's Prestige Collection wines from the start. It has been an exceptionally interesting exercise, tracking the evolution in taste, style and, consequently, growth in quality.
As vines have aged, winemaking has shifted away from higher oak and extraction towards silky elegance which has been an inevitable part of the winemaking journey as it tracks with global demand for depth and complexity with a deft (and often lighter) touch.
These wines are all the better for it and, in my view, the 2024s represent the best yet from Craggy Range's Prestige Collection.
The volumes of these wines are relatively small but the quality speaks for itself. These new release wines require significant ageing to show their absolute potential, but if enjoying them now, they will reveal their finest complexity when decanted.
2024 Craggy Range Aroha RRP $200
Dense but delicate, deep ruby in colour but silky in texture, Aroha means love in te reo Māori, which is a fitting name as a lot of love and dedication has been lavished on these wines at their Te Muna Valley vineyard site, from which a portion of those considered the best are carved out to make this wine. Red fruit aromas drive the front palate forward with spicy support from a fresh backbone of fine acidity. This outstanding wine shines a light on the high quality and smaller volumes from the 2024 vintage - a great year following two toughies. This wine will age superbly, showing depth, secondary deliciousness in layers over the next six to seven years+. From tasting previously well aged vintages of Aroha, it is one of New Zealand's greatest Pinot Noirs. Savour every sip or cellar it, confident in the knowledge it will age well.
19/20
2024 Craggy Range Le Sol Gimblett Gravels RRP $200
Le Sol is 100% Syrah and represents Craggy Range Winery's commitment to honing the best from the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District in Hawke's Bay. Medium ruby colour, this full bodied Syrah is youthful now but also approachable, putting forward an aromatic display in layers with black pepper, a touch of cardamon and subtle cedar notes. This is medium body style, peppery flavours translate onto the palate.
19.5/20
2024 Craggy Range Les Beaux Cailloux Gimblett Gravels RRP $180
For this landmark 25th vintage, head winemaker Ben Tombs introduced Mendoza clone fruit to enhance phenolic grip and natural acidity, creating a highly structured style that reflects complex lees ageing methods with indigenous yeast fermentation and maturation for 11 months in French oak barriques, 26% new oak. This wine has a distinctive gunflint complexity, driving a tight and energetic Chardonnay built to evolve for the long term; up to and potentially beyond 10 years.
18.5/20
2024 Craggy Range Sophia Gimblett Gravels RRP $170
Sophia is a Bordeaux‑inspired blend shaped mostly by the plush mid palate depth of Merlot with support from Cabernet Franc's lifted dark fruit forward perfume and the quiet authority of Cabernet Sauvignon which brings backbone to a dark, steady, architecturally finely honed wine. This is smooth and commanding now. It has the power and structure to unfurl in years to come with greater complexity
18.5/20
PS... Where do most of Craggy's grapes come from?
The 2024 vintage also marks the first for Craggy's chief winemaker Ben Tombs.
Craggy Range is well known for its aptly named Giant's Winery in Hawke's Bay but the majority of its grapes are now grown in the majestic Te Muna Valley in Martinborough; a relatively remote and windswept site that is increasingly recognised for high quality Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, which may come as a surprise to realise that Martinborough is home to approximately 70% of Craggy's current grapes each year. Hawke's Bay is relatively nearby and is home to all of the winemaking for this meticulously high quality focussed family owned winery.
