The Douglas dozen: a taste of Craggy Range

1 Craggy Range, Les Beaux Cailloux, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay

2019 96

craggyrange.com

A complex, alluring and delicious 100% Chardonnay, with distinctive scents of new barrel, ripe stone fruits and grapefruit peel, and a leesy minerality. Full-bodied, youthful and complex. Fine tannins and brisk acidity, with excellent flavours of white and yellow fruits, brazil nut and new wood. Very long finish. A wine that needs time to settle in and develop complexities through some bottle-age. Drink 2023-2030 Alcohol 13.3%

Craggy Range, Les Beaux Cailloux, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay 2020 95

craggyrange.com

This has a powerful fruit core with an equal impact of oak scents, spice and allure. It’s a complex and earthy 100% Chardonnay that’s new and vibrant. Core fruit flavours of peach and white nectarine, grapefruit and barrel spices invade the palate. Lush and delicious, yet youthful and taut, this needs time to bring all the attributes together. It has fine tannins with a chalky edge, and layers of oak with texture and impact. A fine wine. Drink 2023-2039 Alc 13.3%

2 Craggy Range, Aroha, Martinborough, Wairarapa 2019 97

£45 (ib)-£73 Alex Marton, All About Wine, Burnett & Herbert, Christopher Keiller, Harvey Nichols, Jeroboams, Specialist Cellars, The Fine Wine Co

This 100% Pinot Noir comes from two parcels of the Te Muna Road vineyard. It has a fantastic bouquet with a sense of place and time: a core of silty minerals, wind-blown soils, red berries, lightly spiced cherry and wisps of barrel spices and woodsmoke. Delicious and seductive on the palate, with a core of dark cherry and wild strawberry, a fine savoury mineral layer and surrounded by a fine chalky tannins and acidity. Perfectly balanced yet youthful. Invest while you can. Drink 2022-2030 Alc 12.9%

Craggy Range, Le Sol, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay 2020 96

£65 (ib) Burnett & Herbert, Cru, IG Wines,

Justerini & Brooks, Lay & Wheeler

The core of ripe red berry fruits and blackcurrant, sweetmeat and toasty vanilla barrel spice captures the essence of a fine 100% Syrah. Scents of violet and raspberry, blackcurrant and wildflowers are woven between fruit spice and smoky wood, with a whisper of pepper spice, flat mushroom and baking spices. Taut mouthfeel, complex