New vintage syrah just hitting shelves

Chris Scottsays the CHurch Road syrah is only for domestic consumption.

To say 2010 was a good year for Church Road Winery picking up accolades would be a vintage understatement.

At that year's A&P awards, it was not a case of accepting one or two honours, which would have been satisfying enough, but by the end of the evening there were seven lined up on the Church Road table.

It would be fair to say the expressions of those at the table were of delight, surprise and of being just slightly overwhelmed.

As well as bagging the Champion Wine of Show, the 2009 syrah picked up trophies for Champion Syrah and Sustainable Wine of Show.

They also came away with Winery of the Year, Champion Merlot, Champion Pinot Gris and Champion Sweet Wine.

A very memorable occasion for the winery crew indeed.

"Yes, it was a great evening," chief winemaker Chris Scott said.

"This was actually the first and only Church Road syrah we have released up until now, with a 2013 just starting to hit the shelves."

He said syrah was fast becoming an important standard bearer for Hawke's Bay "so we like to know we are competing with the best of them".

The last few vintages had been confined to the McDonald Series and Grand Reserve labels, but now the winery had more fruit coming on.

"The trophy certainly gave the wine a boost, sales wise, but we haven't had enough fruit to do it again until recently."

The syrah was sold only domestically.

"We didn't export it at all and still don't."

The 2009 vintage had been an "exceptional" one, Mr Scott said, but the 2013 and 2014 syrah vintages had fared even better.

He described the 2013 as "a bit more linear and tightly wound and built for the long haul".

The 2014s were "a bit more showy".

And tucked away deep in the fine and historic cellars of Church Road, there are still some 2009s which, he said, were still very youthful and "ageing gracefully".