2024 Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah, Hawkes Bay

Right from the very beginning of the Craggy Range adventure, this wine has been my favourite of their range. I know others disagree and look to other options (plenty of late-night discussions have failed to resolve this, so I urge you to make up your own mind), but for me, this stands up, year after year after year. That said, I’m not sure if it has ever stood taller than in the wonderful 2024 vintage. This is a brilliant wine and if it is not on your bucket list then it should be. The name reflects the soil. The fruit comes from the stoniest areas of their Gimblett Gravels vineyard, which was planted to what they term a ‘heritage clone’, which came to New Zealand back in the 1840s. Maturation was for a year and a half in a mix of French and Austrian oak, 29% of which was new. An opaque yet vibrant purple/maroon hue with a dark magenta edge. Beautifully refined, this is all class. Imagine if you could take what’s best about New World Shiraz and Old World Syrah and blend them into something even more special. The wine has exquisite balance and aromas of chocolate, mocha, leather, cloves, cassis, animal flesh, truffles, violets, licorice, bergamot and coffee beans. Well focused with great length, we see hints of bacon fat and cocoa powder emerging on the palate. Despite this cornucopia of flavours, the wine is at all times regally elegant and yet the intensity never wavers for a moment. Such length. Finishing with silky tannins, the seductive texture runs throughout, and the wine should drink magnificently over the next fifteen to twenty-five years. A stunning Syrah and time might just get it over the hump to that perfect score, although it does seem a little churlish not to award it now. Wonderful stuff. Drink to 2051.

99 points Ken Gargett for Wine Pilot, July 2026

Syrah from a heritage MS clone brought to New Zealand in the 1840s, planted in the stoniest reaches of the Gimblett Gravels Estate and hand-tended 13-14 times through the season. The three blocks were fermented separately — Block 10 with 25% whole bunch in French oak, Block 11 in concrete Nico Velo, Block 14 in wooden cuve — averaging 22 days on skins before 18 months’ maturation in French and Austrian oak, 29% new. Red peppercorn melds with sweet cedar to start, some violet florality appears with air, along with clove, star anise and kirsch. The fruit emerges with a swirl of the glass in black and red cherry, plum and blackberry pie before savoury au jus and flickers of liquorice add to the complexity. There’s some bitter tones in spent coffee grounds and dark chocolate too. With some time in the glass, this really clicks into place with the pepper and baking spices and other savoury components beautifully weaving through the fruit to create a complex, beguiling and alluring perfume. It’s elegant, focused and polished in the mouth from the outset with an incredibly restrained and seamless texture. While fine, it’s eminently intense, driving and firmly structured, flowing through the palate as if being drawn along by its pepper-infused grainy tannins and savoury lashings of surging acidity. The length is seemingly endless, with some attractively bitter tones in cocoa powder and dark chocolate. This is such an impactful and impressive release of complexity, elegance, intensity and length. This will age brilliantly over several decades for those who can wait.

98 points Tom Kline for Wine Pilot, August 2026

A stellar release for this much-loved Hawke's Bay syrah, which has evolved gently over the years to less percussive oak, letting the fruit and site do all the talking. A deep magenta/crimson in the glass, the wine opens with a lifted bouquet of boysenberry, blueberry, damson plum and violet, intricately underscored with black pepper, clove, subtle oak tones, pan juices and vanilla pod. The palate is intensely concentrated yet graceful, showing a velvety fruit entry that rides smoothly over a bed of fine, pillowy tannins and a vibrant, focused acidity. Richly layered with baking spices, savoury dried herbs, and a hint of spicy oak, this exceptional Gimblett Gravels syrah delivers a long, commanding finish. It is a stunning, elegant release built for extensive cellar ageing. An absolute cracker! Drink to 2046.

97+ points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, September 2026

Impressive syrah with raspberry and blackberry, with hints of spice and dried flowers. Medium-bodied with a dense and superbly rich finish. So balanced and polished. Lasts for minutes. Hints of lead pencil and cracked pepper at the end. Terrific syrah. Drink or hold.

97 points James Suckling, August 2026

Deep violet. Decadent clouds of cedar, vanilla and whipped cream surround the dense, sweet core of violet, plum and blackberry with inchoate notes of molasses and cinnamon lurking in the wings. This is on another level of concentration, exploding across the palate with waves of black fruit, olive, spice and creamy wood and hiding an impressive amount of structured, grippy tannin under the sweetness and plush velvet. Entirely primary at this stage, this can develop over the long term but could equally be enjoyed for its exuberance in its youth due to the puppy fat. Drink to 2041.

97 points Stephen Wong for The Real Review, July 2026