I was bored so I thought I would open something from MY (not the shops for a change!!) cellar.

Established in 1836 the Mission is NZ's oldest winery. Setup and run by the Franciscan brotherhood, only in recent years ahs it made the effort to become a commercialy run vineyard. The Jewelstone represents the top wines and although run by a bunch of monks from the back blocks of Hawkes Bay it is of an unusually high standard.

Syrah and Merlot have always been the Monks primary reds, with pinot gris and chardonnay being the focus of the whites. palimino and malvasia have been planted to produce fortifieds that sadly, since the commercialisation of the winery, have been pushed to the side.
Dessert rieslings (Ice wines) and Gewurzt's (Noble rot) are both produced also.

1997 was one of "those" years, sort of like "those" neighbours or "that" brother etc... It was quite temperamental with many regions only producing stunning fruit in particular varietals and not across a broad variety. Luckily for Hawkes Bay it was the later ripening fruits of syrah and cabernet.

Now keeping that this wine is seven years old, I was interested to see if it was capable of more time. NZ syrah is notoriously young drinking with the exception of one or three so I was very interested to try this. I have five bottle after this one.

Colour:Very vibrant purple (almost no bricking!!!)
Nose:cedary tobacco (cigar box), a little barnyard, sweet black cherry, a hint of spice and dates and figs. Still quite intense on the nose.
Palate:The age showed through on the palate. The mouthfeel was well intergrated with the aged tannins drying the palate slowly and encouraging the acids (still quite noticeable so maybe this wine was a little out of balance) , through from the fore palate to intergrate and mingle around the mid palate. The flavours were softer and considerably more subtle than the nose suggested. Length was good with softer star anise spice developing as the wine disappeared down my throat. Finish was elegant , drifting from the rear palate to the fore and back again, almost like it was boat sitting rocking, it was very gentle.
Overall: Quite impressed with the wine. I would recommend another six months before approaching htis wine to bring the acids into balance. However I love harmonious wines not fruit bombs (if you do like fruit bombs avoid this wine.) For $15 USD this wine is well worth it however. 88 point on the J scale.