Hawke's Bay

Matahiwi winemaker Miles Dineen is a dab hand at Syrah. He uses grapes from the sunny Hawke's Bay to produce this outstanding expression of spicy, ripe plum flavours from the gorgeous Syrah grape. 

This wine is top value for money from one of the great Syrah winemakers in this country; it is one of his favourite grapes and we're sure this wine will be too - try it. 

Te Mata Tasting Note

Coleraine '22 harnesses the energy and complexity of Te Mata cabernet sauvignon, on show at its highest level since the first Coleraine in 1982.

The beautiful floral aromas of lavender, violet, plum and blackcurrant, are all in orbit around the wine?s dark savoury core of tightly wound graphite, nori, coffee grounds, vanilla and tobacco.  The palate is intensely concentrated, with a superbright tension building freshness and precision as layer upon layer of fine polished tannins give pinpoint detail alongside signature, exacting, levels of finesse.

Coleraine '22 is a modern reprise of what makes Coleraine iconic, a wine balancing past and future, heritage and innovation. This is a statement wine, one that lingers both on the palate and in the mind.

Hieronymus is a blend of grapes and of vineyards and is composed of 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec and 8% Tempranillo with 58% from the Gimblett Gimblett and 42% from the Bridge Pa Triangle.

Grapes were harvested in three separate hand picked lots and fermented separately in oak cuves, then drained to barrel without pressing. The wine was aged for 26 months in 50% new French oak.

The wine's name pays homage to an ancestor of the winery's owners, the Weiss family.

VINEYARDS Parcels of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were hand-picked from selected sites on the  gravel soils of the old Ngaruroro River, and old vine Merlot from the Bridge Pa region.  Bridge Pa Triangle soils feature fine silt loam over red metal gravels, while the gravel sites protected by Roys Hill, feature gravel over fine silt. These sites are free draining and low in fertility, resulting in struggling vines producing fruit of great concentration. Low yielding vines, open canopy management, managed irrigation and Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand farmed were common to all sites. Bridge Pa Merlot delivers ripe, dark plums which compliments the spicy brighter fruits from the gravels. Cabernet thrives on gravel sites and contributes structure, acidity and fragrant berry fruit notes. 

WINEMAKING Batches of hand harvested fruit was chilled overnight before processing the following day. Chilled bunches were hand sorted and de-stemmed, and whole berries were transferred to open fermenters with some foot stomping. Whole bunches were also incorporated in some of the Merlot fermenters. The berries were cold soaked before fermentation, with pumping over twice per day then pressed to barriques at the  end of fermentation. The Merlot and Cabernet matured for 21 months in new and  seasoned French oak barriques. Blended in December 2019 and bottled in January  2020, the final blend is approximately 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

SENSORY An elegant Merlot Cabernet blend which exhibits lifted aromatics of fragrant  berry fruits, sweet French oak, and underlying lavender and thyme. Complex and  textural, seamless tannins harmoniously support red and black fruits, earthiness,  and spice. Tautly poised to develop beautifully with bottle age.

Pachamama is a divine brown ale, created with the addition of rich Spanish honey, enhancing the beer with floral notes and a light sweetness. We wanted to barrel age this in a way that would truly complement the honey and decided on native Pedro Xim?nez barrels.

The beer is aged for 9 months to give a beautiful consonance with the sherry, with flavours of raisins, candied fruits and hints of dark chocolate all interacting harmoniously for a complex and decadent beer

10% ABV

Commercial descrption

Saorsa. A term to describe a radical sense of freedom that represents our philosophy completely. Our aim is to produce honest and sincere wines that are free to sing their own song and truly express themselves and the sites they are grown. Wines of great balance and texture, using what nature provides? time and thought.

Here at Saorsa Wines we make small production wines by hand in the beautiful Hawke?s Bay. We select specific sites that not only have the greatest attributes for exceptional quality but also a unique individuality that manifests in the wine itself. Production is with the lightest of hands, in a traditional manner using everything the grapes bring with them without industrial manipulation and additives.

Saorsa - Freedom ? Liberty ? Salvation.

About the wine - Juicy and voluptuous. Morello cherries and rose petal perfume with a hint of allspice and fresh garden thyme.

Vineyards - Located in the meandering hillsides above the Tuki Tiki River in Hawke?s Bay sits a micro plot of beautiful Grenache. A gentle north facing slope bathed in all day sun high above the river. Tucked into the harsh soils of hard clay and bands of stony red metal. Cooling river winds matched with intense heat of the valley provide a perfect situation for delicate, aromatic and juicy Grenache.

Bright and delicate with an intensely long aromatic finish.

Winemakers Notes
With this being such a popular varietal these days, we were asked by our local distributor to produce one. As it turns out places like Japan and Canada are also hopping on this fresher, aromatic style. I fermented half in stainless steel tank with a selected organic yeast and the other half as wild ferments in 2 large puncheons. This provided both precision and funkiness making for a really unique expression of this grape.

Vineyard
Hawke's Bay is located on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The region enjoys dry summers with moderate, cool nights. This wine reflects a single vineyard Pinot Gris which was grown in the Eskdale Appellation of Hawke's Bay. The vineyard lies along the Esk River Valley about 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the mouth that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The soils are a combination of silt and loam deposited from the river and heavier deposits at the foot of the Esk Valley Hills. The vineyard has begun its journey into organic farming with no weed sprays and the use of an under- vine mower.

Winemaking
This Pinot Gris was harvested with an average harvest Brix of 20.5 and picked with a fresh acidity to give the finished wine some finesse and keep the alcohol in balance.

We chose to machine harvest the fruit to give the juice time to soak freely on skins for about 6 hours before we pressed. The free-run juice and light pressings were fermented in stainless steel using an organic inoculated yeast and fermented slow and cool to relative dryness. The pressings went into 10 year old French puncheons (500 liter oak) where they fermented wild each with their own hint of sweetness and character left behind.

Using the best black currant and blueberries with a little apple to give our Berry Bomb the right amount of zest to ensure the taste explodes.Low in saturated fat, cholesterol & calories. - 5% ABV

One of our favourite wine importers created this tasty, dry, full bodied red from Hawke?s Bay Syrah with the help of talented winemakers. This is a spicy, deep purple, juicy take on the second most planted red in the Bay; Syrah. This wine drinks well now and can age further; try cellaring a couple of bottles for at least five to six years.