For the second year running the winemakers at Mission Estate are celebrating double gold medal and trophy success for their Syrah at the prestigious International Wine Challenge in London.

In this year’s show both the 2014 Mission Reserve Syrah and 2014 Mission Estate Syrah won gold medals with the Estate Syrah then being awarded a trophy.

The International Wine Challenge is considered by many to be the world’s finest and most meticulously judged wine competitions.

“This ongoing success is a real credit to our winemaking and viticulture team” says Mission Estate CEO, Peter Holley. “Our team are extremely dedicated to their craft and to see their hard work acknowledged on an international platform is extremely satisfying”.

Mission Reserve Syrah 2014

Viticulture: 100% of the fruit was sourced off our Gimblett Gravels vineyards; Mere Road is planted with the MS clone with the balance of fruit from our Gimblett Road vineyard planted with the MS, 174 and 470 clones. Gimblett Rd MS fruit was harvested at 24.3 Brix on the 20 March; the other clones on 4th April at 23.2 Brix. On Mere Rd harvest was on 2nd of April at 22.6 Brix. All vineyards were crop thinned and leaf plucked around the bunch zone.

Winemaking: The hand harvested fruit was lightly crushed to small fermenters. The fermentations were conducted on the skins with temperature peaking at 30ºC. Mission’s Gimblett Gravels fruit was fermented with cultured yeasts and had 15 day post fermentation macerations. MLF was in tank with inoculated and indigenous bacteria before racking off lees for barrel maturation. 15% of barrels were new, and French oak was exclusively used. The wine spent 12 months in barrel

Tasting Notes: The nose is vibrant, suggesting sweet spice and black fruit aromas with some black pepper notes and striking floral overtones. The palate is full, medium to full bodied with good fruit weight. It is very fresh without any hardness; 2014 is a seriously good Syrah vintage. The ripe tannins are really structural and finely textured.

Cellar Potential: Potential to age gracefully for five to ten years. Alcohol 14.2 % – Acidity 5.8 g/l – pH Level 3.59

Mission Estate Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2014

Viticulture: The fruit was sourced from the Bridge Pa triangle and warm inland sites sheltered from sea breezes. Soil types: stony gravels with light silt phases requiring irrigation. The grape canopy during the season was shoot thinned and vertical shoot positioned with leaves plucked around the bunches to achieve ripe flavours. The autumn of 2014 was warm and dry which set up perfect conditions for the Syrah to ripen superbly, achieving ripe aromas and supple ripe tannins in the fruit at harvest.

Winemaking: Fruit was crushed to fermenter and inoculated with yeast – the fermentation started after two days and was pumped over once daily. Fermentation – approximately seven days with temperature peaking at 30 °C. Post fermentation maceration of up to 20 days was allowed with no pump-overs. Maturation was in tank to retain primary fruit.

Tasting Notes: The nose exhibits vibrant dark berry notes with good spice and black pepper overtones. The fruit driven palate has a soft texture and good persistence. This wine is made in a medium bodied style with good freshness that shows off the great flavours of Syrah grown in Hawke’s Bay without the strong influence from maturation in oak barrels.

Cellar Potential: This wine has sufficient structure and fruit intensity to cellar 5 years or longer. Alcohol 13.2 % Acidity 6.3 g/l Residual Sugar <1.0 g /l pH Level 3.71

For more information visit http://www.missionestate.co.nz/

Watch the Video below for a ‘Drone’s Eye View’ of the Mission Estate Lawn in Autumn