This year’s New Release tasting of Private Bin wines was hosted in Sydney by Chris Tyrrell, fifth-generation scion of the family and member of the current winemaking team. It’s the swansong for the standard ISO glasses, evidently; some of these rather subtle reds look none-too-exciting in their “little glass prisonsâ€Â, as James Halliday is prone to refer to them. Tyrrell gave a quick background on the 2011 vintage, which across the country was a near-universal failure due to record rainfall, save two regions alone; the Hunter, which threaded its way between early drenching rains in November-December and later baking heat from New Year’s Day to emerge broadly successful, and Margaret River, right at the other end of the continent, where they had one of the driest seasons on record. Hunter winemakers apparently enjoyed the unique experience of fielding telephone calls from Barossa wineries seeking advice on handling mould and rot…
Semillons
These struggled with the January heat, and although the alcohols look fairly normal, and the pHs hover around the 3.0 – 3.1 mark, they are pretty generously flavoured. With quite soft acids (perhaps Vat 1 apart) these will be best in the short-medium term, I reckon.
- 2011 Tyrrell's Sémillon Reserve Stevens - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11%, A$22} A generous splash of youthful lemon-detergent and cut-grass aromas. The palate has warm grassy/straw flavours, with a distinct lemon twist, it’s dry, sits rather towards the front palate and finishes clean and fresh. Light-medium bodied, with a medium-length finish and medium acid, it’s a sound if fairly generous example of the style which is probably best over the next 5 or so years. - 2011 Tyrrell's Sémillon Belford - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11.4%, A$22} Belford is back, after the hailed-out 2010, but it seems to have suffered worst in the vintage heat, with a surprisingly developed nose of lemon/lime aromas, a vaguely sweaty note and even a touch of honey. The acid is quite soft here, with the result that it feels dense, almost medium-bodied, with rich honeyed flavours of medium intensity. The structure isn’t so robust; the flavours tend to congregate on the tip of the tongue, and although there’s an interesting interplay between the sweetness of the flavour and the actual dryness (ie. no residual sugar) of the palate, the finish is only about short-medium length. Enjoyable enough now, but there’s little to be gained cellaring this; I’d say drink within 3 years for best reward. - 2011 Tyrrell's Sémillon Vat 1 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11.5%, A$36} Classic lime and mineral nose. This blend of the best of the winery’s own blocks seems nearest to its usual standard. Although the palate is the most mineral of the semillons, a strong citric note ensures it still remains quite generously-flavoured. Medium-high levels of acid add to the purity of the texture and intensity of the palate; there’s is plenty of presence right the length of the tongue. It all culminates in a long, dry, minerally finish. It’s a good medium-term Vat 1, but I wouldn’t entertain expectations of greatness here. - 2011 Tyrrell's Sémillon Johnno's Block - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11.4%, A$36} I’m a huge fan of the concept of Tyrrell’s releasing these small batch, single-vineyard bottlings, even if the wines themselves sometimes leave me a little bemused. For a wine that offers almost identical chemical specifications to the Vat 1 – alcohol, pH, TA & so forth – and which derives from at least one of the same vineyards (the Long Flat), it’s remarkable that Johnno’s could taste so much softer (yet if anything the acids measure fractionally higher here). The difference is attributed to the basket-press used to produce this ~200 case cuvee (only 10% of Vat 1 production). The nose has a whiff of the lime/minerals of Vat 1, but is overlaid with a hint of fine spice and a flowery/petal-like note. The palate seems less fruity; with stoney, rocky, flinty flavours, a dash of citrus perhaps, but not much; the fine crystaline structure is all about subtlety. Absolutely light-bodied, although still tantalises all the palate; the finish is medium-long, but of the utmost delicacy. You could gulp this down, so lightly does it flit across the palate. I think you’re mostly paying for potential, but all on trust – after all, there are no old vintages to try yet.
As planted in the Hunter, these resisted the vintage heat quite well according to Tyrrell, shutting down completely and riding out the wave; the dehydration and sunburn that afflicted the semillons failed to eventuate here. With all fruit picked by Feb 9, it’s a clear ‘chardonnay’ vintage, although the Private Bin range of labels for this grape is only half that of the semillons.
- 2011 Tyrrell's Vat 63 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$22} As usual, a small production (250 dozen), deeply unfashionable blend of the top chardonnay vineyards with about 20% semillon to freshed it up. Unusually, I find a glue-like, resiny touch to the palate which completely destroys for me the more pleasant aromas first presented; melon, fig, nuts and some honeyed french oak. Puzzling. There’s plenty of acid, it’s medium-bodied, quite powerful with a savouriness helped along by the steeliness of the semillon. But that glue note – even after an hour sitting in the glass it remained. I swirled the glass, sniffed, thought ‘Oh, this is fine now’, and tasted, but again it was unpleasant. My tasting neighbour concurred; I can’t blame the glassware. Just weird, because I’m normally a big fan of this Vat. Maybe it’ll come good, but for now, pass. - 2011 Tyrrell's Chardonnay HVD - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.2%, A$36} Another 250-case effort from the basket press, this time working on the 1908 grapes from the HVD vineyard, almost certainly the oldest chardonnay grapes in the country. A youthfully pure nose of fig, melon and peach, with a little solids-driven butter character. The palate offers its own little miracle of rich fruits tightly structured; the generous white-fleshed fruit flavours are bound with mineral acids and a little spiced oak. Super presence on the mid and back-palates; it’s medium-bodied, with a long tidy finish. No better or worse than Vat 47, just more sharply chiselled, with a crystalline brightness to it. Neither wine is a typical new-world bland chardonnay, however. Three vintages in, and this cuvee is a triumph. - 2011 Tyrrell's Chardonnay Vat 47 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$36} From the Short Flat vineyard this year. Still in barrel/tank; to be bottled in three weeks, and consequently just a little cloudy in the glass, by contrast to the other 7 limpid straw-coloured wines on the table. “It’ll never look better than this†says Tyrrell, a touch morosely, as he laments the modern commercial requirement for wines to be fined to the point of a hard glitter in the glass. A rich nose, with nutty, buttery characters (but not too oaky) deriving from lots of lees contact and battonage. One-third new oak (decreased since the 90s) has been swallowed up by the lemon and spice-tinged fruit; much of the silky medium-weight texture of the wine is now derived from these basic burgundian production techniques, rather than technology or process tricks (there’s no malo here, for instance). The palate is long and even; the wines seems quite powerful in its flavours despite really only being medium-bodied in weight. Staying below 14% alcohol isn’t hurting either. A class act which ought to sail through ten years in bottle, assuming it survives that packaging process more-or-less intact. - 2009 Tyrrell's Chardonnay Belford - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$30} The experimental wine in the chardonnay portfolio, always released with a few extra years on it. Developing nose, mellow, with yellowing apple aromas and soft woody notes from the 100% new oak. Despite rich melon flavours and fine oak seasoning, the palate lacks the seamless integrity of the other two chards. There’s a chalkiness to the texture, which is really only light-medium bodied; it actually tastes less oaky than it smells. But the palate is quite even in presence along the tongue, and the finish is medium-length and quite balanced; although it has an impressive show record it is just missing something for me. Best now and within 3 years I reckon; nice wine for the price.
A lighter year for what is already a pretty light style of wine. Tyrrell was candid in his opinion of a lot of Antipodean pinot, finding them all fruit and no palate interest (step forward New Zealand). This is the fourth year out of the last eight they’ve made this, and when Chris gives it a 5-8 year drinking window you might wonder what the point is of making it at all. Try some inherent stubbornness, a nod to O’Shea’s old pre-WWII wines, pride that these NV6 clones are probably some of the oldest pinot vines in Australia, but mostly just because they want to. Good on them for that.
- 2010 Tyrrell's Pinot Noir Vat 6 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.3%, A$34} Some garnet in this, but also what looks like rusty radiator water as well! The palate smells well developed, or at least not fruity at all, with compost, mushroom, fungal undergrowth and even a vague bilgey note in there somewhere. Yes, I can see why Tyrrell expects to cop some flak for this. Search the palate and you’ll find some sour, dusty cherry fruit, but this wine is about texture; a dry and tart savouriness, not overtly stalky (one-third whole bunch ferment) and certainly not oaky (10% new barriques, the rest 3-years-old). In fact, the palate is fresher than the nose seems to indicate, it’s light-bodied and has a medium length finish. It’s not a pretend-burgundy, it really falls somewhere between the new and old-world stereotypes. Something interesting to try over the next 5 years or so; thankfully the price is sensible.
The tricky 2010 vintage is evidenced by the absence of the 4 Acres from the line-up (blended away elsewhere). Perhaps the other single vineyard centenary wines only just made the cut; this would be the first time probably since 2004 that the cross-vineyard blend Vat 9 is clearly the pick of the traditional reds. And if the ability of vintage to trump pedigree within a vineyard is required, look no further than the 2009 regular release of the Stevens shiraz against the Old Patch flagship from 2010 for an object lesson in this fraught question.
- 2010 Tyrrell's Shiraz Johnno's - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Lower Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 12.5%, A$46} A translucent light purple colour. The nose is as reticent as I‘ve ever smelt in a non-faulty wine. A vague hint of black cherry, and that’s about it. The palate is light enough to pass for pinot; ‘hunter river burgundy’ as Tyrrell called it. It’s acidic, juicy in a saliva-flowing kind of way, fairly low intensity in general, although it does interact evenly along the palate, and manages of medium length finsh of…, what exactly? Cherry and spice flavours are barely detectable; it’s more just the lively impression left behind by acid. Oak is barely noticeable (a single new 2700l french cask); the wine is every bit as light as you expect from grapes grown in sandy alluvial soils. A show of hands indicated this was too light for many in the room. And yet for all its gossamer quality and low alcohol, there’s no hint at all of green or lack of ripeness. A fascinating curiosity which needs to be kept at least 8 years to evolve. And put it in a big glass… - 2010 Tyrrell's Shiraz Old Patch "1867" - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Lower Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.4%, A$46} A slightly darker purple than Johnno’s. Cherry aromas, a touch of spice, roses. Offers a bit more than Johnno’s, but not much; this is closed by any standard. The palate is delicate and poised, with perfumed red fruits and a twiggy, tobacco touch to the flavours, a light-medium body, crunchy texture thanks to the acid, and some medium-weight fine powdery tannins. A medium length beguiling finish promises some developmental interest to come; this isn’t really worth touching for five years at least. - 2010 Tyrrell's Shiraz Vat 9 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Lower Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13%, A$46} Here are some aromas to bury your nose in. Currants and berries, jubey and juicy, with a touch of compost, forest-floor. Classy. The palate is solidly medium-bodied, with black-spectrum fruit flavours rather than red, clean but not clinical, with medium acid, discreet dusty medium tannins and a medium–long finish that caresses all of the palate. Balance is key here; the savoury texture is just prefectly scaled; there’s no sense of alcohol, the finish is bone dry. The pick of the vintage reds, highlighting the best characters of the component fruit parcels. - 2009 Tyrrell's Shiraz Single Vineyard Stevens - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13%, A$36} Trailing a vintage behind, this is from the remaining fruit in the clay/loam soils of the Old Hillside vineyard, and represents a more modern take on Hunter shiraz, with 30% seeing new oak barriques, and the rest in large newish casks. The nose is considerably more intense than the 2010 wines, with dark currant and blackberry aromas. The palate is silkily-textured, courtesy of medium powdery tannins and a seasoning of oak, but the acid is always present, keeping things lively and fresh. At least medium-bodied in weight, but never hot on the palate, this has a balanced, dry, medium-long finish. An impeccably-sized wine, and excellent value for money. Ought to sail through ten years in the cellar and be better for it. A buy for me.
There were just the two other reds in the masterclass tasting, with the Hilltops cabernet losing its ‘Vat 70’ moniker this year. In response to a question, Tyrrell conceded that a lot of the reds around the turn of the century are brett-riddled to varying degrees; Tyrrell’s were far from alone in this, and I’ve noticed quite a few Australian prestige/flagship reds from the late 90s suffering the same smelly fate. Chris stated that they regard any brett as an outright fault and have since moved away from the higher pH levels of those flawed years.
The Brokenback shiraz was on tasting at the open bar which I sampled afterwards, so didn’t get the back-and-forth comparison I applied to the other reds.
- 2010 Tyrrell's Vat 8 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$46} 8% cabernet sauvignon from Hilltops combines with estate shiraz to form Tyrrell’s take on this most Australian of blends. Seems a shame they apparently can’t find suitable Hunter cabernet for this; that componenet has come from Coonawarra and Mudgee in the past. This version has quite a closed nose, which, despite its small volume component, seems to smell mostly of cabernet-like currants, with only a touch of black pepper. The palate has elements of spice and liqueured blackcurrant, rides on a bed of medium chalky tannins, with proportionate acid. It’s still very tight and youthful; the fruit seems to trump the other structural elements a little, with the back palate a bit soft. Medium-full bodied all up, with a medium-length finish; I think it has the potential to age handsomely for 8-10 years. Bit of a bridesmaid wine, this; I reckon it must be a hard sell at the same price as the ‘sexier’ wines. - 2010 Tyrrell's Cabernet Sauvignon Hilltops - Australia, New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Hilltops
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$26} Quite a dark garnet red. Currant-like nose, with no trace of any herbal or green notes. The palate manages a touch of tobacco-like flavour, but it’s not really weedy in any sense. The currant/cassis flavours contend with a pretty high level of chalky tannins and combine to form a medium-full body; this is the only wine that sees US oak barriques as well as french (30% new). As with the other reds, there’s no shortage of acid, and despite this being the most modern of the reds it’s hardly mainstream. Medium intensity of flavour and medium length finish; it’s a very competent wines but less distinctive than its siblings. - 2009 Tyrrell's Shiraz Brokenback - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 12.9%, A$16} The basic commercial release of Hunter shiraz. Tobacco, twigs and a touch of earth on the nose. Sniff of oak and a pine/resin note too. The palate is spicy and twiggy with a little pepper; it’s fresh and lively, with medium acid, soft chalky grape tannins and little evidence of oak. About medium-bodied, it sits a little on the front of the palate but manages a medium-length finish. Good value authentically rustic Hunter red with modest pretentions.
An invaluable tasting. When was the last time you tasted 8 new release reds and none of them were over 13.5%? Prices listed are for club members; retail will be higher. Although the ‘open bar’ is worthwhile, with many of these wines the differences between them are so subtle that you really need a glass of each to go back and forward between them, or the nuance is lost. Except for the chardonnays, I felt this year’s releases didn’t quite match their counterparts from the previous year’s vintage, but they’re still a worthy set of wines, and the 09 Stevens shiraz is a solid find.
cheers,
Graeme
