In todays tasting our Wine Director – Master of Wine, David Allen – tastes a wine that we do not have any listings for yet (as of 15th September 2023 anyway) – Church Road, Tom Bay Syrah 2021 from Hawkes Bay on the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Fruit for this wine comes from the Redstone vineyard in one of the best portions of Hawkes Bay’s premium Bridge Pa Triangle growing area. Our thanks to the Church Road winery for supplying us with a pre-release sample of this wine.
Church Road Winery in the Hawke’s Bay region is one of the oldest wineries in New Zealand with a history dating back to 1897, when, on the site now known as Church Road, Bartholomew Steinmetz founded Taradale Vineyards. Tom McDonald, a legendary figure in the New Zealand wine industry started working at the winery in 1921, at the age of 14. He took charge of it just five years later.
In 1949 McDonald introduced the country’s first widely available Cabernet Sauvignon, and pioneered quality winemaking in Hawke’s Bay. The red wines became increasingly popular during the 1960s.
In 1989, two years after McDonald’s death, the winery was heavily renovated. In 1991 two winemakers from Domaines Cordier in Bordeaux worked with Church Road to introduce elements of traditional French winemaking techniques. In 1995 the first vintage of the premium TOM Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot was introduced in McDonald’s honor.
Chris Scott was appointed winemaker in 2005. In 2020 he was awarded Winestate New Zealand Winemaker of the Year for the third time. Church Road is currently owned by Pernod Ricard winemakers.
To find out more about this and other vintages of this wine, and to find out where to buy them, follow this link to the Wine-Searcher website:
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