Sacred Hill Syrah rises to top of red wine charts this week
This year marks the 17th year of the Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection wines which were officially announced in August. I will post all of my independent reviews of the 12 wines here over coming weeks now that I have tasted through the selection, which features six Syrahs and six reds made from classic Bordeaux grape varieties, all from the 2024 vintage.
This year's release wines were, as always, independently selected by Master of Wine Andrew Caillard every year. The 2024 is a great year, representing a warm, dry growing season in which quality was strong in east coast regions of New Zealand's North Island. Hawke's Bay benefited from the relatively settled weather in 2024, which was, as Master of Wine Andrew Caillard aptly describes, "the perfect reset after the dramatic 2022/2023 growing season".
Caillard's insightful comments on the wines, the region and the vintage have built up a consistent voice for this iconic selection of wines each year, which are sent to wine critics around New Zealand and the world.
Here's my red wine of the week
2024 Sacred Hill Wine Thief Syrah RRP $35
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but value is easier to quantify and this wine over delivers as one of only two (of the 12) wines under RRP $40 (NZ) in this year's 17th Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection.
Winemakers Nick Picone and Jordan Robinson gave the finished wine 18 months in French oak, 10% of which was new which shapes the dark dense and highly perfumed black plum aromas into a rounded, fleshy style. Grapes in this wine were grown on 22 year old vines on the slopes of Roy's Hill in the Gimblett Gravels district, an area that benefits from warm sunny days and cooling sea breezes, both building concentration and floral lift in this densely perfumed young Syrah.
It's drinking beautifully now and has the structure for a long life ahead - ideally suited to drinking in eight to nine years+.
Sacred Hill is now owned by the Poulter Group, which purchased the Hawke’s Bay winery in 2022.
Winemaking is led by Nick Picone, formerly chief winemaker at Villa Maria and one of New Zealand’s most awarded winemakers, with Tony Bish in a consulting role.
