Intense red with purple hues. Intense youthful fresh ripe berry fruit flavours with some well-integrated vanillin oak. Full bodied wine with dense ripe berry fruit flavours of cherries and black currants balanced with spicy oak having a long and smooth finish. Serve with a red wine casserole or a juicy steak with red onion jam. This wine has the flavour; structure and balance to be enjoyed now or offers added satisfaction from further cellaring.

The Last Shepherd Syrah is a bold Hawke's Bay Syrah and a deliciously good story. Floral aromas such as lilac, violet with lifted dark berry notes appear on the nose. On the palate, flavours of boysenberry and plum with well-integrated oak influence come through. With medium weight on the palate, this wine has a hint of pepper and warm spices, rounded out with a soft and velvety finish.

The blackberry, spice and liquorice nuances combine to produce a fruit dominant but complex wine. A small inclusion of the white variety Viognier gives the wine beautiful perfume and allows the wine more accessibility while young. This wine is of the lighter style.

George Fistonich started Villa Maria as a one-man band in 1961. An icon of the NZ wine industry, this family owned company became a global brand in just 50 years. Villa Maria's Cellar Selection is an intensely flavoured, elegant and food-friendly wine range.