The vintage was largely destroyed, then something incredible happened
That he’s been able to make a wine as good as this is remarkable. It’s one of the best pinots I’ve tasted all year.
Every wine that reaches your glass has stared down fickle fate to get there. Every wine is its own little miracle. Some are more miraculous than others. Tasting the 2023 Cru Heretaunga Chardonnay from New Zealand recently opened up a portal in time. A portal straight back into the teeth of a storm.
Back in 2023 I landed in Wellington to join an international press trip being re-routed on the run. Cyclone Gabrielle was about to really cut loose and we boarded a flight for the South Island to get out of her way. We left behind the trip’s organiser, Steve Smith MW. He had to get back to his home in Hawke’s Bay, and wasn’t sure if Gabrielle would beat him there. “I’ll see you in Christchurch in a few days,” he said. “Hopefully.”
The Smith we saw in Christchurch wore a brave face but was clearly rattled by what he’d seen. Gabrielle’s impact on Hawke’s Bay was catastrophic. Smith’s concerns went way beyond vineyard damage; he’d seen carnage brought down on his community. That he was harvesting fruit just two weeks later is remarkable.
That he’s been able to make a wine as good as this Heretaunga Chardonnay is even more so. Half the crop was lost, not so much in the teeth of the cyclone but in the eerie days afterwards, as moulds and mildews ran rampant through damaged bunches. Rigorous work in the vineyard at least delivered something to the winery, and the result is really quite special. Genuine beauty emerging from the brutality.
Smith has long been a prominent figure in the wine world. The first viticulturist to attain the Master of Wine qualification, co-founder of the celebrated Craggy Range winery and now, with business partner Brian Sheth, not only the driver of their eponymous label but custodian of one of New Zealand’s most precious vineyards, Pyramid Valley. Success has come often and abundantly for Steve Smith. But this small win, uncovered in the aftermath of a storm, is clearly a special one.
SMITH AND SHETH CRU HERETAUNGA ALBARIÑO 2024
$55
From a far more benign season, this wine comes from Smith’s fervent belief that maritime Hawke’s Bay can take albariño to the heights it reaches in Spain. Polished and rounded, it ripples with ripe stone fruit and lemon zest, raw almond, lemon thyme and the salty/sweet tryst of melon draped with jamon. Fullness without fat, lovely acid cut. 14.2% alcohol, 94 points
SMITH AND SHETH CRU HERETAUNGA CHARDONNAY 2023
$55
A wine of precision and quiet energy. Green apple, preserved lemon, peach and tarragon. A whiff of wild honey and dried chamomile. Taut and energetic, a deftly deployed mid-palate weight and fruit power that builds with time in the glass. 13% alcohol, 95 points
PYRAMID VALLEY EARTH SMOKE PINOT NOIR 2023
$175
In other circumstances this wine would command every inch on this page to sing its praises. It’s among the best pinots I’ve tasted all year. A harvest diminished by frost has delivered great complexity, if not quantity. Sour cherries, wild berries and dried porcini, tightening through a fine, granular finish dusted with exotic spice. 12.5% alcohol, 97 points
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