Hunter Valley Wine Report

(Feb. 2000)

Any report on wineries in the Hunter Valley has to talk about the most famous Hunter wine - Semillon. This is a white grape which, elsewhere in the wine world, tends to be blended with Chardonnay and made into a medium or even medium-sweet wine. In the Hunter Valley, however, it is classically made into a dry style . It's a really interesting wine which is found in two distinct states. Young Hunter Semillon is fresh and citrusy but after 4 or 5 years in the bottle, it turns a golden colour and takes on buttery and toasty flavours - distinctly different to wine in its youth.

Below is a list of the wineries we visited. It's a mixture of large, well-known wineries and small boutique wineries. At almost all of them we were made very welcome by people who were enthusiastic about their wine and were keen to talk about it. None of them charged for tastings.

McWilliams Mount Pleasant	Briar Ridge
Hungerford Hill	Petersons
Lindemans	Gartelmann
Tamburlaine	Tyrell's
Brokenwood	Scarborough
Pokolbin Estate	Rothbury
McGuigan Cellars	Allandale
Rosemount Estate

For each of the wineries we visited, we've made some notes about the vineyard, and some notes about all the wines we tasted. So read on!

McWilliams Mount Pleasant

This is the first vineyard we visited, and unfortunately we didn't make any notes. We do remember, however, that we tasted a very good Semillon - Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon.

Scarborough

One of our favourites. The tasting room has some magnificent views across the valley. We had a really good chat with the owner and winemaker and tasted some excellent Chardonnay - easily the best we tasted on our trip.

1997	Chardonnay (Export)	Very fresh and dry. Made for the export market, Chablis-style.
1997	Chardonnay (Traditional)	More depth and character than the Export. Oak is present but not overpowering.
1996	Chardonnay (Traditional)	More developed than the 1997. Probably at its best now.

Gartelmann

Another very friendly vineyard. We had a long chat with Mrs. Gartelmann herself who was feeling ashamed of tripping over her new puppy and breaking his leg. A fun visit but the wines didn't inspire us, the only thing that did stand out was a dessert wine made from Chenin Blanc which Anneliese particularly liked.

1997	Chardonnay	Very, very dry. Too dry in fact.
1998	Unwooded Chardonnay	Martin liked this one. There is a bit of a backlash in Australia against over-oaked Chardonnay and this is a good example of a more subtle wine.
1998	Chardonnay	Anneliese preferred this to the 1997.
1998	Semillon	Neither of us were particularly blown away by this wine, but it was OK.
1998	Chenin Blanc	A rare grape variety in the Hunter. Anneliese liked it, but it was too sweet for Martin. Not a wine to drink with food.
1998	Shiraz	Quite a nice wine.
1998	Diedrich Shiraz	Better than the standard Shiraz.
1999	Botrytis Chenin Blanc	A very nice dessert wine - quite light and not too syrupy. Plenty of fruit flavour.

Petersons

Perched on top of a hill, friendly and chatty folks here, with more fantastic views. Martin tasted red, Anneliese tasted white and we liked everything we tasted to varying degrees. We've joined their wine club so we should be able to give a more considered opinion in due course.

1997	Semillon	Better than average.
1998	Shirley Chardonnay	Had good balance of fruit and oak.
1998	Chardonnay Verdelho	Quite dry but nice and fruity.
1998	Verdelho	A good glugging white!
1998	Cabernet Sauvignon	Very fruity, quite dry.
1998	Back Block Pinot Noir	Very powerful, and this swamped the fruit a bit.
1998	Shiraz	Another fruity little number!
1998	Back Block Shiraz	A very good wine. Powerful but fruity with plenty of depth. Will develop.
1998	Back Block Cabernet Sauvignon	Another good one. Bone dry but with plenty of character.
1997	Botrytis Semillon	Another excellent dessert wine. Lots of apricot flavours.

Briar Ridge

A well-known and well-respected vineyard. However, the hostess didn't seem interested in the wine or encouraging us to enjoy it. Nothing particularly awe inspiring, but this could have been down to lack of interest.

1999	Early Harvest Semillon	OK, but not inspiring.
1999	Verdelho	Good fruit, drinking now.
1999	Hand Picked Chardonnay	OK, nothing special.
1998	Old Vines Shiraz	Quite dry, fruit a bit suppressed.
1998	Cabernet Sauvignon	Good varietal character, potential for improvement.
1999	Botrytis Semillon	Quite nice, not too heavy.
1999	Stockhausen Signature Semillon	Has definitely got ageing potential.
1998	McGuigan Signature Cabernet Merlot	OK, nothing special.

Hungerford Hill

Relatively new vineyard with very funky labels!

1998	Hilltops/Cowra Semillon	OK, but not inspiring.
1998	Cowra Verdelho	Fairly nice.
1997	Cowra Chardonnay	OK, nothing special.
1995	Young Chardonnay	The oak leapt out of the glass and punched you in the nose! More wood than Chardonnay.
1997	Hilltops Cabernet Sauvignon	Plenty of fruit, and not too dry for Anneliese.

Tamburlaine

Only sell their wines through the cellar door, and were very keen to get us to join their wine club. However, we weren't overwhelmed by any of the wines so we resisted!

1999	Semillon	OK, average.
1999	Sauvignon Blanc	I've tasted better!
1999	Verdelho	OK, nothing special.
1999	3 Parishes Chardonnay	Some character, but nothing special.
1999	Late Harvest Verdelho	A bit sweet for Martin, not as much fruit as you might expect.
1999	Petite Fleur	Poor, bland.
1999	Chapel Chardonnay Reserve	Pretty good, definite potential to develop into something very good.

Lindemans

A large and famous vineyard. There's a picture of the winery here. We didn't taste many wines here, but we did taste some very nice stuff.

1991	Sparkling Shiraz	Very unusual, but very good. A sparkling red wine that isn't too sweet and actually does taste of Shiraz.
1998	Hunter Valley Semillon	Quite nice, typical young Semillon.
1995	Hunter Valley Semillon	Classic example of aged Hunter Semillon - buttery and biscuity.
1994	Reserve Porphyry	Yet another very good dessert wine (we found lots on this trip!).

Pokolbin Estate

Small vineyard that we popped into almost by accident. Their price list promotes their wines a bit heavily (e.g. The Best!, Another great wine! etc.).

1998	Semillon	Despite being quite young, this was starting to exhibit aged Semillon characteristics. Quite good.
1991	Shiraz	Nice and smooth, mellow. Plenty of Shiraz character.
1998	Shiraz	Lots of fruit, showing good potential for ageing.
1998	Dessert Verdelho	Very good, with a long finish.

Brokenwood

One of our favourites - friendly people and great wine. The Cricket Pitch range is so named because the grapes come from a vineyard which is on land designated as the local cricket pitch.

1999	Semillon	Excellent. Plenty of lemony fruit, likely to age well (if we can stop ourselves from drinking it!)
1994	Late Release Semillon	Even better - classic aged Semillon.
1998	Harlequin - Chardonnay /Verdelho /Sauvignon Blanc	Neither one thing nor the other.
1998	Harlequin - Shiraz /Cabernet Franc /Cabernet Sauvignon	A bit bland.
1998	Cricket Pitch Red - Cabernet Sauvignon / Cabernet Franc /Shiraz / Merlot	Very dry but very good. A real gutsy red. Definite drinking wine.
1998	Shiraz	Not bad, but nothing special.
1998	Mistress Block Shiraz	Very good, but a bit tannic.
1998	Rayner Vineyard Shiraz	Smoother than the Mistress Block.
1999	Jelka Riesling	Delicious dessert wine. Sweet but not syrupy.

Allandale

Quite a nice little place with friendly staff.

1997	Hilltops Semillon	Quite nice, maybe a bit too dry for Anneliese.
1997	Semillon	Better than the Hilltops.
1999	Verdelho	OK, nothing special.
1999	Chardonnay	A good gluggable Chardonnay. May develop into something better.
1997	Fleur	Not very sweet for a dessert wine. Quite light.
1998	Matthew Shiraz	Nicely fruity, but lacks depth.
1998	McLaren Vale Shiraz	Better than the Matthew. Not made from local grapes.

Rothbury Estate

Another big place with a good reputation. However, we weren't overly impressed.

1998	Hunter Valley Semillon	Fairly average.
1998	Brokenback Semillon	Better than the above, but still not brilliant.
1999	Hunter Valley Verdelho	Quite nice and light.
1997	Brokenback Chardonnay	Average.
1998	Hunter Valley Shiraz	Nothing special.
1998	Brokenback Shiraz	Good potential, but hard to drink now.
NV	Galway Pipe Port	Nice and grapey.

McGuigan Cellars

A large complex which also includes a cheese factory and delicatessen. We had some great cheese here, and the wine was fairly good too. Unfortunately, we didn't scribble down the vintages of the wines we tasted!

	Shareholders Chardonnay	Fairly average.
	Late Picked Verdelho	A bit lightweight.
	Shareholders Shiraz	Very fruity.
	Fathers Own Tawny Port	Lacked depth.
	Personal Reserve Chardonnay	Very good, well balanced.
	Personal Reserve Botrytis Semillon	Very nice, not cloying.
	Personal Reserve Tawny Port	Very good, plenty of depth and strength.

Tyrrell's

Tyrrell's is a Hunter institution - it has been around for ages and has a reputation for excellent Shiraz and we discovered exactly why. An interesting visit chatting to a chap with purple wine stains up his arm to the elbow from sampling a recent pressing. It was incredible to think that the glass of lumpy, cloudy, unpleasant smelling purple stuff he showed us would turn into a delicious glass of wine. We took a photo of some grapes at Tyrrell's, which is here.

Tyrrell's run a wine futures scheme where you can buy wine now but not pay for all of it until it matures.

Again, no vintages because I didn't write them down!

	Vat 9 Shiraz	The best Shiraz we tasted on the trip. Excellent now and it's still very young. Will certainly turn into something excellent if we can wait that long!
	Lost Block Semillon	Typical young Semillon. A good example of the style.
	Stevens Semillon.	Not so good.
	Shee-Oak Chardonnay	Despite the name, is actually an unwooded style. Not all that good.
	Moon Mountain Chardonnay	An excellent easy-drinking Chardonnay.
	Eclipse Pinot Noir	Plenty of varietal character, not too tannic. Really nice.
	Brokenback Shiraz	Pretty good, but not in the same league as the Vat 9.
	Stevens Shiraz	Not very impressive.

Rosemount Estate

Rosemount is a national winemaker, but has a well-deserved reputation for good wine. They won Winemaker of the Year in 1999. We travelled up to the Upper Hunter Valley to visit their winery. Our visit was pretty short and we didn't get all that much attention from the staff as a large party arrived by private plane just after we got there. Still, we go to taste several of the Chardonnays in their range, and ended up buying some of their Giants Creek Chardonnay, which is a Hunter Valley wine.

No tasting notes though, because I didn't write them down at the time.