Stonyridge Larose 2020

Reviews

The Stonyridge Larose is a true icon. Review Stonyridge Larose 2020:

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 97/100. The rich center-palate offers lots of generous fruit and chewy tannins that are ripe and polished. Impressive power and length. Yet, it's only giving a hint of what is to come. One for the cellar. Try after 2027.

Tasting Note

The Stonyridge Larose 2020 is rich, concentrated, and deep, with fresh, pretty aromatics of lavender and powerful aromas of dark black fruits underpinning. On the palate, it is a wine of power and extraction, with massive chewy tannin at this point in its evolution. This is classic, great vintage Bordeaux, but in the more modern and clean style, with great purity and complexity of flavour.

Aromas and flavours

Additional information

Type: Red wine

Varials: Cabernet Sauvignon 51%, Merlot 24%, Petit Verdot 14%, Cabernet Franc 7%, Malbec 3.5%, Carménère 0.5%

Suggested food match: Beef Wellington

Alcohol: 14.5% vol

Total acidity: 5.6 g/l

Residual sugar:  <1 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

The name: This classic Cabernet-dominant blend is named Larose as a tribute to the rose, the most aromatic, colourful, intense, and beautiful of all flowers.

Vineyard: Waiheke Island, New Zealand. The North facing site, which Stonyridge proudly occupies, affords their vines all day sun enabling Stonyridge to ripen these Cabernet varieties to perfection. The site is sheltered from the cooler Southwest winds and in summer we can experience over 80 days of temperatures in the 30 °C mark during the ripening period. The soil is a poor low-fertility Waitemata Clay saturated with nodules of magnesium, manganese, and iron oxides. Magnesium is the central molecule of chlorophyll, essential for photosynthesis, much loved by grape vines and so often deficient in NZ soils. The soil profile at Stonyridge is a key factor in much of the complexity and 'terroir' characteristics that the wines display. Organically managed, the only additions to the soils are natural-ground limestone and homemade seaweed 'tea'.

Vintage: The Spring/early Summer was warm and settled after flowering, and drought conditions started early. As a result of the incredibly dry summer, the berry size remained small. Sunny, settled and endless Bluebird days were the hallmarks of the 2020 vintage. Fruit condition was perfect, and we able to harvest fruit at the optimal time for each and every parcel. Tonnages were low, mainly due to tiny berry size, but the crop was even and open, ensuring great exposure to the sun.

Winemaking: Aged in 60% new fine and tight grain French oak.

Cellaring potential: Drink from 2025-2050 if you can resist the temptation.

Closure: Cork

Produced and bottled by: Stonyridge Vineyard, 80 Onetangi Road, Waiheke Island, Auckland 1971, New Zealand

Distributor: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany

Reviews about Larose in general

Successes at blind tastings

In 2000, an elite French sommelier team put Stonyridge Larose 1996 as first equal with Château Petrus, Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Cheval Blanc in Grandes vins rouge du Monde (Les Editions du Bottin Gourmand).

Larose has beaten wines like Château Latour, Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Lafite Rothschild in a famous blind tasting in 2006. But Larose is available at a fraction of the price.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - Best vertical tasting 2014

Lisa Perrotti Brown, Chief Editor of Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, has named the vertical tasting at Stonyridge her "Best Vertical / Retrospective Tasting of 2014" in Lisa Perrotti Brown's Guide to the Best of 2014.

"While there were a number of truly incredible Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italian, Australian and California contenders for my favorite vertical tasting of the year, the most impressive one took place during my New Zealand trip in October, demonstrating that some of the best New Zealand wines being made today really can and are aging remarkably:" Stonyridge's Larose (Bordeaux Blend from Waiheke Island) Vertical (inc. vintages back to 2004) tasted at Stony Ridge in Oct 2014.

Stonyridge Larose: other critic views

• Nick Stock (wine rater for James Suckling): "Sitting right at the top of the New Zealand Bordeaux-inspired blends, the Larose has a beautiful density that is fused with elegance. The palate has the sort of tannin texture that all cabernet winemakers dream of….a real triumph."
• Master of Wine Bob Campbell: "Larose is typically an elegant, powerful and complex red wine with a proven history of developing well with bottle age. Waiheke's long-time hero, Stonyridge Larose has been making waves since its stellar vintage in 1987 ... Founder, Stephen White, is as clever at marketing as he is at making his world famous red. Most is sold en primeur ..."
• Cameron Douglas MS: "Stonyridge Larose ...has consistently been one of New Zealand's most sought after wines for the last 20+ years. The Larose consistently stands out in any competition it is shown in - it is sold mainly En Primeur and quickly sells out each year - a worthy investment."
  
• Michael Cooper, author of the Wine Guide to New Zealand Wines: "Typically a stunning Waiheke wine. Dark and seductively perfumed, with smashing fruit flavours, at its best it is a magnificently concentrated red that matures superbly for a decade or longer, acquiring great complexity. This is a Super Classic"
• Raymond Chan: "Stonyridge Vineyard is a true icon. Created by Stephen White with the first vines planted in 1982, the Stonyridge 'Larose' Bordeaux-varietal wine was first released with the 1985 vintage. The 1987 wine is now regarded as one of the landmark wines of New Zealand..."
• Hugh Johnson: "Stonyridge - Boutique winery, known since mid-80s for exceptional CAB SAUV-based, Larose, one of NZ's greatest."
  

According to the winery, Stonyridge Larose is the favourite of the former NZ Prime Minister, Sir John Key and has been enjoyed by King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Elizabeth II, the Russian President, the Prime Minister of Australia, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and has sold at some of the world's best restaurants including Ducasse at the Dorchester in London and Viridiana in Madrid.