24 Nov New Zealand Syrah – Special Market Report
Following on from the success of our recent New Zealand Pinot Noir market report, it’s time to look at the variety that acclaimed American wine blogger Alder Yarrow (and jancisrobinson.com writer) described recently as “New Zealand’s Other Red Wine” and how this break-through style performs on the secondary market.
While we see our fair share of NZ grown Bordeaux blends from Hawke’s Bay, Waiheke and Matakana often fetching top prices, NZ Syrah needs to be taken seriously, both on the domestic and international markets.
Sales and Average 750ml Prices Over Time
| Year | Lots Sold | Bottles Sold | Average Price |
| 2020 | 60 | 103 | $65.32 |
| 2021 | 118 | 196 | $91.16 |
| 2022 | 144 | 290 | $104.10 |
| 2023 | 172 | 328 | $95.58 |
| 2024 | 143 | 268 | $88.79 |
| 2025 | – | – | $67.66 |
As with Pinot Noir sales we saw a huge spike in sales and prices post-covid and while sales volume has remained relatively high, we’ve seen something of a drop off in average 750ml bottle prices in part because of a significant drop-off in consignments of super-premium Syrah wines like Craggy Range Le Sol and Trinity Hill Homage. In the case of Homage, this wine was not made in the difficult vintages of 2022 and 2023, naturally constraining supply.
This said, this year we have seen some truly exceptional results for well-cellared sub-$100 wines from good vintages and have seen almost 20% of NZ Syrah sales selling around or above or highest estimates.
Top Performers
With the exception of large format bottles* our top three sales for this period are as follows:
1) 2013 Trinity Hill Homage Syrah selling at $305.5 a bottle in November 2021
2) 2x 2013 Trinity Hill Homage Syrah selling at $282 a bottle in November 2021, and
3) A tie with two lots selling at $270.25 between 2006 Providence of Matakana Syrah (May 2021) and 2013 Craggy Range Le Sol (August 2022).
While there has been growing interest in NZ Syrah on the secondary market, sales at the top end seem largely concentrated to a handful of wines; namely Trinity Hill Homage and Craggy Range Le Sol. Of our top twenty 750ml bottle sales (all over $200 a bottle), these two wines make up 70% of these sales and are joined by wines from Providence of Matakana, Kusuda and Church Road Tom.
Homage, in particular, seems to be an over-performer, selling regularly well over its current $150 retail price and even this year, great vintages (like 2013) have sold just under the $200 market, well above current retail and up about 40% up on its original retail price.
As mentioned earlier, this year in particular we have seen some incredible sales for sub-$100 NZ Syrah with the highlight being two bottles of 2013 Brookfields Hillside Syrah selling at $99.88 a bottle in August. For context, this was a $40 wine on release with the current vintage having an RRP of $60. We’ve also seen strong Syrah sales this year from wines from the likes of Smith & Sheth, Stonecroft, Te Mata, Craggy Range (the retired Block 14 bottling), Elephant Hill Reserve and Millton Clos de Ste Anne.
Vintage & Regional Trends
Like sales of Bordeaux-Blends, vintage plays a huge factor in whether NZ Syrah performs well on the secondary market, for example, wines from classic Hawkes Bay vintages such as 2001, 2007, 2009 and 2013 sell above those from lesser vintages.
Likewise, while our sales are dominated with Hawkes Bay and Auckland wines there are several well-performing Martinborough bottlings (namely the ultra-allocated Kusuda alongside wines from Dry River and Cambridge Road) that also do well.
Investment and Cellaring Advice:
1) There is currently very strong demand for well-aged, sub-$100 wines wines from good vintages and consistent producers. Te Rere Reserve and Te Mata Bullnose are good examples of this.
2) There is also consistent demand for highly allocated (i.e. Kusuda) and other limited supply wines (i.e. discontinued bottlings or wines from respected but now-retired wineries). Examples of this include wines like Craggy Range Block 14 Syrah which was discontinued after the 2007 vintage or Reserve bottlings from the Bridge Pa Vineyard who stopped making their own wines after the 2009 vintage.
3) New Zealand Syrah is making more noise internationally and we expect there to be more international demand for well-aged benchmark wines across the price spectrum. It might be time for a dig through your cellar!
Please note, unless specified all prices are for 750ml equivalent bottles and include buyer premium. Retail prices, where quoted come from The Real Review.
* Our very highest-selling NZ Syrah lot was a 5l of Craggy Range Le Sol which sold for $940 in July 2023.
