2021 Le Sol Syrah

James Suckling - 94

Very attractive blackberry and brambleberry aromas with hints of oyster shell and ink aromas that follow through to a medium body, fine tannins and a fresh finish. Nice dryness and fine austerity at the end giving a crushed stone sensation. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

The Wine Independent - 94

The 2021 Le Sol, 100% Syrah fermented with 27% whole bunches, is medium garnet-purple in color. It gives up notes of black raspberries, black cherries, and cracked black pepper with hints of garrigue, violets, and coffee beans with a waft of tar. The medium-bodied palate is bright, refreshing, and elegantly styled, with bags of spicy red and black fruits, finishing long and peppery.

The Drinks Business - 95

Craggy Range Le Sol 2021 (Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand; 100% Syrah; a final yield of 28 hl/ha; aged in French oak barrels, 32% of which were new; pH 3.62; 13% alcohol). Named in tribute to the sheer quality of its famous Gimblett Gravels terroir. The second release of this wine. Lithe, plump and plush on the palate and wonderfully expressive of its pure Syrah on the nose, this is my first experience with this wine and I’m very impressed. I love the rocky minerality here, the assorted crushed black, red and green peppercorn notes, the intense dark berry fruit (boysenberry, bramble and mulberry) and that gamey animal meatiness so redolent of top Syrah. If this were from France, it would be from Cornas. The tannins are sweet, soft and enveloping and they structure the slow gently contoured evolution of the wine over the palate. Very fine, almost delicate and brilliantly understated.