Craggy Range New Releases

The first wine was the 2010 Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay. Now this is strange, as this soil is really well suited for red wines. I was informed that only 3 out of the 104ha vineyard are planted to Chardonnay, however. The wine has a floral nose, and a light to medium body. The wine is a little sweet and not very differentiated in its flavour, but there is some length on the finish. Maybe 3ha too many? (86 points).

The 2010 Craggy Range Calvert Vineyard Pinot Noir comes from Central Otago, where Craggy Range shares this vineyard with Felton Road. Alas! This wine is nowhere near as good as the Felton Road. It tastes of red cherry, but is flat, with a metallic aftertaste. (86 points). Craggy Range has the Te Muna property in Martinborough, which produces a much better Pinot Noir.

The 2010 Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Merlot was also disappointing. It tastes like lollipops, is quite flat and alcoholic (84 points).

The final wine was the highly acclaimed 2009 Craggy Range Le Sol. This is a very agreeable Shiraz, which ticks all the boxes. It tastes of dark berries (blue and black) and peppery spice. The soft texture is achieved through the velvety dry tannins. The wine is elegant and has excellent length. This wine is sometimes called a cool climate Shiraz, but it has more weight and mouthfeel than many Victorian Shirazes. (96 points).