The Flying Winemaker Syrah 2019
TASTING NOTES:
Dark red, purple hue. The nose is rich and lifted, with notes of violets, gamey meats and eucalypt. The palate is generous with cherry cola and toasty oak. The tannins are firm with hints of cool climate spice on the finish.
REVIEWS:
93 Points | "Offering enticing fruit purity with elegant complexity, the wine shows Black Doris plum, ripe cherry, thyme and toasted almond notes on the nose with a lovely floral overtone. It's concentrated and refined with finely textured mouthfeel as well as silky flow, wonderfully framed by layers of polished tannins. At its best now to 2029." - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
93 Points | "Deepish red colour with a slight tint of purple. The bouquet is spicy and vegetal, with floral and peppery high notes and a suggestion of whole-bunch fermentation. Red cherry and raspberry are there, too. The wine is elegantly weighted and textured, fruit drives it and the tannins are fine, soft and mild, making for a very approachable young shiraz. Medium length. A modern, Rhône-ish, cool-climate Shiraz with loads of charm, and good value." - Huon Hooke, The Real Review
92 Points | "Black currant and dark roses, plums, dark cherries and raspberry, a layer of spices from wood and natural varietal attributes. Dry on the palate with flavours of dark berries then spices, clove then vanilla, and some olive and toasty wood. Tannins have a moderate intensity and offer a mix of chalk and darning needle texture, medium+ acidity and a balanced ready to drink finish. Best drinking from 2021 through 2024+." - Cameron Douglas MS
89 Points | "Creamy, silken-textured syrah with baked-earth, plum, prune, pepper-spice and vanilla flavours. A hint of sweetness helps both texture and taste with fine tannins giving a dry-ish finish. A crowd-pleaser." - Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review
89 Points | "Eddie McDougall makes wines from a wide range of regions: here he turns his hand to Hawke’s Bay shiraz/syrah. This is smoky and meaty and all those good things. Overtly meaty, you would call this. It’s also pretty with floral and sweet spice notes, which match well with cherry-plum fruit flavours. Enjoyable red wine, no doubting it, of the meaty/savoury/floral persuasion." - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
WINEMAKER'S NOTES:
"This wine is curated from vine parcels located within close proximity to the the famous Gimblett Gravels creating a wine that is varietally expressive and able to sing the right notes of a Hawkes Bay Syrah. We look to express the white pepper spice, blackberries, red and black currants, to show off dark fruity flavours that are plush on the palate with silky tannins and a little spice. Our key to the success of this range is simplicity and honesty. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're sticking with what works to make this wine taste awesome." - Eddie McDougall
WINEMAKING & PRODUCTION:
The fruit for this Syrah is sourced from the Two Terraces vineyard in Hawkes Bay. Machine harvested at night and then transported to the Wairarapa, where the fruit is left to cool overnight before being destemmed the next day into 2-tonne open fermentation vats.
Fermentation will last 3.5 weeks, with a morning pump-over done once a day and plunging done by hand once a day to ensure a soft extraction of tannins, colour and flavour. We then press off the wine and remove it from its skins to be matured in a mix of French oak barrels (15% new) that have a tight grain and high toast for 14 months, each with its own balanced oak regime of barrel age and choice of coopers.
ABOUT THIS RANGE:
Winemaking without borders while ultimately aiming to express the honest flavours of individual grape varietals. Each wine produced under this range is a benchmark example of grape, place, and maker.
With an ambitious and pioneering spirit, we thrive on discovering and expressing the finest terroir — getting the best from every grape with minimal intervention. The results are exceptional wines, crafted with passion and precision so you too can experience the journey, one sip at a time!
