Craggy Range Syrah Le Sol 2022 750ml

The 2022 Le Sol follows in a long line of Le Sol Syrah, each expressive of the terroir and its vintage. The wine is lightly framed, highly perfumed, silky in the mouth and clearly, as far as I see it, bears the hallmarks of talented winemaker Julian Grounds, who left Craggy Range in 2023 to pursue another role in Mornington Peninsula, Australia. This wine here is all about pomegranate and pink peppercorn, ripe raspberry, black tea, crushed sea shells and minerals. It's a beautiful wine, possibly as light as I've ever seen it, and I love it for that. The tannins and acidity balance perfectly to create a featherlight and long finish. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Tasted as part of the Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection 2022. According to the Gimblett Gravels vintage report, it was “a memorable vintage where experience paid dividends.” A warm, dry winter devoid of frost events framed an impressive flowering and the earliest veraison in three decades. Decent rain through spring promoted good vine health and abundant canopies, which assisted in managing a record number of days above 30 degrees Celsius over the following two months. February was wet, warm and humid, which created challenges; however, three good weeks of ripening followed. A rain event late in the season was the final hurdle to harvest. Rainfall was 642 millimeters for the year, 50% up on the long-term average (429 millimeters), and degree days/hours of sunshine in 2022 were 1,417, also up on the long-term average (1,269).

Aromatic and elegant, offering fine, silky tannins and complex aromas that range from blueberry preserves and fresh black cherry to bittersweet chocolate, with notes of Earl Grey tea, perfumed fresh violets and white pepper, plus lingering hints of sarsaparilla and wintergreen. Syrah. Drink now through 2036.

In color, this Syrah is a deep, inky red with a vibrant purple hue. Enticing aromatics of boysenberry, blueberry, violets, clove and lightly seared meat. This wine exhibits a real richness of fruit yet carries an ethereal quality. The fine grained tannins dance gracefully across the palate. Can be cellared for 10 to 15 years.