2020 Te Mata Bullnose Syrah

98 POINTS

Sam Kim - Wine Orbit

This is brimming with gorgeous aromas of Black Doris plum, violet, warm spice and toasted almond on the nose, leading to a concentrated palate offering rich texture and plush mouthfeel. It’s powerful and imposing while remaining gracious and captivating, beautifully framed by fine grainy tannins, finishing persistent and immensely satisfying.

98 POINTS

Bob Campbell MW - The Real Review

Deep, purple-tinted syrah with a wonderfully fine-grained, perfectly-pitched texture. Flavours include cassis, plum, dark berries, anise, black pepper, floraland red rose together with spicy oak. A very impressive wine

96 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2020 Bullnose Syrah offers deli meat on the nose, exotic spice, graphite, black tea leaves and succulent red fruits. There is warmth (generosity, plushness, etc.) in this wine, but the acidity is cooling and detailed. Slinky, supple and balanced, shaped by ductile, tissue-paper tannins, chalky and shapely, this is lip-smacking. 13.5% and perfectly ripe. So good.

96 POINTS

Anne Krebiehl MW - Decanter

Baked plum, cream and a touch of vanilla almost have an overtone of citrus. The palate is alive with white pepper spiciness, dense with ripe plum and red cherry, while a lactic note sets another aromatic accent. Fruit and flavour are concentrated yet the texture is very fine. Tannins are like starched velvet – rich, smooth and crunchy – and the aromas just swirl with heady abandon. This presses just so many pleasure buttons.

94 POINTS

Rebecca Gibb MW - Vinous

Tasted alongside the 2019, the 2020 Syrah Bullnose is super seductive and entices you with its strawberry and red cherry fruit and florals rather than the more exotic perfume of the 2019. Gorgeously textured, it blossoms in the mouth. However, there's a richness of tannic substance within its core, coating the mouth with a powdery veil. This can be approached now but has the abundance of concentration and structure to last a decade and potentially longer.

94 POINTS

James Suckling

A savory nose of charred rosemary, black pepper, crushed plums and coffee bean. Medium- to full-bodied with velvety tannins. Succulent and deep on the palate with plenty of meaty and grilled herbal complexity. Lovely weight and texture. Mouth-watering now, but can age. Sustainable.