Paritua Stone Paddock Syrah

Hawke's Bay, on the Eastern edge of North Island, New Zealand has built a reputation for high quality Bordeaux blends, Syrah and Chardonnay. Paritua is a relatively new project that has been creating quite a stir domestically, and in a short space of time has come to be regarded as one of Hawke’s Bay’s leading wineries. Paritua is located in the heart of the Hawkes Bay Wine Region, the ‘Bridge Pa Triangle’ District. This is one of New Zealand's most diverse regions for the growing and crafting of premium red and white wines. The name Paritua means ‘the meandering stream above the ancient river’ and is a tribute to the Paritua Stream, which meanders gently through the vineyard which is planted over the historical riverbed of the nearby Ngaruroro River which flowed through pre the 1860s earthquake The development of the vineyard and winery infrastructure was a collaboration with leading New Zealand architects, Crosson Clarke. Every design aspect was carefully considered and the winemaking operation had to be not only efficient, but also sustainable with the added requirement to sit gracefully in its environment. The vines were planted in 2003 and with 53 hectares (130 acres) planted in three phases: seventy percent is devoted to red varieties – Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec – with Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay completing the picture. Paritua’s vineyard enjoys stony, free draining gravel soils, long summers and crisp winters, which combine to produce exceptional wines. Paritua is in conversion to Organic Viticulture and will be fully certified in March 2022. No expense has been spared and like many of the top Bordeaux chateaux, the winery uses an optical sorting machine to ensure consistency year in year out. As well as top quality premium reds, there are also some lovely wines at accessible prices, which really overdeliver. Two clones of Syrah are grown on the Paritua Vineyard; Chave and 470. Soils are stony river gravels with a silt loam cover. The loam top layer varies in depth from 50cm deep to being completely absent. This causes some variation in ripening, with the silty areas producing slightly higher degrees of pepper notes and the stones providing the riper floral and fruit spectrum. Fruit thinning is essential, and the canopy is fastidiously managed to allow good sunlight and airflow over the grapes. The fruit was destemmed and passed over our optical grape sorter, then partially crushed to tank. Fermentation was preceded by a short period of cold soaking. Fermentation temperatures reached 30°C and daily cap management varied from two to three pump-overs a day. Barrel maturation is in French oak barriques for 12 months of which 20% are new. This wine is unfined and was filtered before bottling. This seductive early-drinking red has an aroma of ripe blueberry and violets with savoury notes of exotic spice and clove. The medium-bodied palate has flavours of plum, five spice and smoked meats with white pepper on the finish.