Vinoculation

 I sat down with Alan on his back porch one Sunday afternoon, about this time two years ago. I was conducting research and interviews for an article I was writing for Wine Front, on New Zealand syrah. I buckled in, set the question level on turbo and sponged every last drop of gold from Alan’s mouth that I could. He truly is the syrah sensei. Having planted a single row of syrah vines in the Hawkes Bay back in 1984, his are the oldest producing syrah vines in the country. People become very misty at the “old vine” adage, as it were, but far more intruging is the manner by which these vines ended up firstly in New Zealand, and then in Alan’s hands.

 It has since been tracked back that the wood I sourced in 1984 went through two or three government stations, dating all the way back to the 1800s. It looks like it was actually James Busby’s original import into New Zealand in the 1840s. He brought wood in from the Sydney botanical gardens where they had a vine collection and it looks like it was one of the early pre-phylloxera clones which, quite possibly, was the same stuff as the old vine shiraz in Australia. I had no idea. - Alan Limmer, Owner/Winemaker

Alan opened a 1997 Stonecroft Syrah (which was excellent - great spice and floral attributes, with impeccable balance) and we discussed the ripening window of syrah. Alan used a trio of consecutive years to demonstrate - 1997, 1998 and 1999. Now, 1998 was the lauded vintage of the decade, with hot, dry conditions, but despite this, Alan considered it poor for syrah. In fact, he had to chaptalise his 1998 syrah because the vines just shut down. The cooler 1997 and 1999 vintages provided Alan with a longer ripening window for his fruit, believing that the structure, fruit flavours and inherent elegance of the wines was preserved in such years.

So, what can we expect from Alan’s syrahs?

They tend to be reasonably weighted wines, fairly elegant without being aggressive in any sense. They have good aromatics, more of a feminine style than the all out grunt, fruit, tannin and oak. I think the wine shows better when it’s not pushed to those extremes. They’re easy to drink; they’re food wines. You don’t have to tough your way through them. Right to the end you’re still seeing things in the wine that are attractive, interesting, and still discovering components of the wine because they have this underlying complexity and elegance without being too one-dimensional. - Alan Limmer, Owner/Winemaker

Here are my thoughts (enjoyed this evening with a massive rump steak):

1999 Stonecroft Syrah
Fragrant, spicy, subtly fruity and complex - that’s how I would describe the aromatics. Blackberry, black cherry, briar, licorice, tobacco and white pepper with a lifted, floral character to the bouquet. Medium bodied, the palate is seamless, layered with spices, earth and red and black berry fruits. The acid - still surprisingly youthful - augments the structure and fresh finish of the wine. The tannins are ripe and persisting yet nursed within a silken cloak that culminates in enviable length. Still primary enough to benefit (and require) food, this effort from Alan hasn’t even upchanged to second gear. Will easily cruise through the next decade and, for all intensive purposes, should be at its stunning climax circa 2020.