Reviews

Wines

Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines 2009

Mission Hawke's Bay Reserve Syrah 2007

The bargain-priced 2007 vintage (5 stars) was grown on the Gimblett Gravels, picked 'very ripe', and matured for 14 months in French (60 percent) and American (40 percent) oak barriques. Dark and purple-flushed, it has sweet fruit delights, firm tannins and rich plum, black-pepper and slight liquorice flavours, showing excellent structure and complexity. It should mature well for several years. A wonderful introduction to the regional style, it's the Best Buy of the Year in this year's Guide.

RRP $25.00

Mission Jewelstone Syrah 2007

The powerful 2007 vintage (5 stars) is outstanding. Estate-grown in Mere Road, in the Gimblett Gravels of Hawkes Bay, the grapes were harvested at 'great maturity' and the wine was matured for over a year in French oak barriques. The colour is dense and inky; the bouquet is peppery and toasty; the palate is substantial (14.5 per cent alcohol), very rich and sweet-fruited, with highly concentrated plum and black-pepper flavours and long, spicy, rounded finish.

RRP $45.00

Mission Jewelstone Chardonnay 2007

This wine has shone since the super-stylish 2002 vintage (5 stars), grown in Central Hawkes Bay. The 2006 (4 1/2 stars), grown at Te Awanga, near the coast, was hand-picked and matured on its yeast lees for 18 months in French oak barriques (60 per cent new). Drinking well now, it is a rich, concentrated wine with substantial body, a strong seasoning of toasty oak and a well-rounded finish.

RRP $36.00

Mission Reserve Chardonnay 2007

For Mission's middle-tier Chardonnay, the style goal is a Hawkes Bay wine that 'emphasises fruit characteristics rather than oak, but offers some of the benefits of fermentation and maturation in wood'. Grown near the coast, at Te Awanga, it is typically very fresh and vibrant. The 2007 vintage (4 stars), fermented and lees-aged for 10 months in French oak casks, is finely fragrant, with delicate peach, grapefruit and biscuity oak flavours that linger well. A youthful, elegent wine, it should mature well.

RRP $25.00

Mission Vineyard Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2008

The 2008 vintage (4 Stars) was grown at Ohiti Road, in Hawkes Bay, and handled entirely in tanks. Scented, ripe-fruit aromas lead into a full-bodied, smooth wine with sweet-fruit delights and strong, tropical-fruit flavours, ripe and rounded. A good example of the regional style, it's full of drink-young charm.

RRP $22.00

Mission Reserve Viognier 2007

The sturdy, concentrated 2007 vintage (4 stars) was grown at Te Awanga and in the Dartmoor Valley, and fermented and lees-aged in one-year-old French oak barriques. It offers rich peach and pear flavours, slightly minerally, dry and long.

RRP $25.00