TN: short notes 3 Hunter wineries
Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:01 pm
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=41935]HUNTER VALLEY - 3 CELLAR DOORS - Hunter Valley (31/05/2019)[/url]
Brokenwood tasting actually the night before, prior to dinner. The other two were squeezed in after a work function finished at lunch.
Brokenwood
Tasting prior to dinner at Brokenwood, in the flash new cellar-door facility, opened just six months ago. For all the reputation of Brokenwood as a ‘Hunter’ winery, a vast proportion of their output – including most of this tasting – comes from elsewhere in the country. Being a corporate event, this was just the basic range ($5 fee for Joe Public, refundable on purchase. You’ll pay $15 for single vineyard tastings, not all of it refundable). The 17 Graveyard shiraz was released just the week before at $300ea, but no taste was offered without significant $ changing hands, so I didn’t bother. Generally, value is a dubious proposition here at the winery.
By sheer fluke, I arrive here just as the 2018 reds are being released. Unfortunately, the fully-allocated $90 shirazes – 4 acres, Johnno’s, Old Patch - are not available to taste (for those, attend the May public tastings in each capital city), but all the rest is here, at the more relaxed pace of the Private Bin room - along with some scatty remnants of the previous release whites. Also, everything is in new labels – again! – in what must surely be the final label overhaul for a decade or so. Yeesh. Who knows what a Tyrrells label looks like anymore? I must say, as a final note, that these wines all have a distinct family resemblance, much as the various crus of Burgundy would have, so there is much overlapping territory among these tasting notes. I suspect the true underlying differences will take years to emerge. And although the prices are rising significantly, it’s probably about time, considering the inherent quality of the wines themselves. To a degree, they have to overcome the mostly inferior reputation earned over the twenty years from from the 80s to mid 00s, so scepticism is understandable. But really, these are now very authentic and impressive wines indeed. And a final note; all the reds in this tasting were bottled in the preceding three weeks, so it’s no surprise I struggled to focus on the underlying differences; there really was a uniformity of character among them at this early, disjointed, stage. Pricing is from the Private Bin member list. Good big glasses for tasting, and plenty of them.
The 2017 reds – from this great vintage – were my chief interest here. And things are looking good. The value for money offered is really very impressive, especially beyond the basic offerings, which are still very sound – if a touch anonymous – in their own right. Prices below are single bottle at cellar door; dozen price is 10% off, members get another 5% off that (for any quantity). Nice big, fine-rimmed tasting glasses. Non-members pay a $15 refundable-on-purchase tasting fee for the premium wines. A purist maker and cellar door in the Burgundian mould (which in the Hunter means Semillon and shiraz only) which is one of the must-visits of the valley.
Graeme
Brokenwood tasting actually the night before, prior to dinner. The other two were squeezed in after a work function finished at lunch.
Brokenwood
Tasting prior to dinner at Brokenwood, in the flash new cellar-door facility, opened just six months ago. For all the reputation of Brokenwood as a ‘Hunter’ winery, a vast proportion of their output – including most of this tasting – comes from elsewhere in the country. Being a corporate event, this was just the basic range ($5 fee for Joe Public, refundable on purchase. You’ll pay $15 for single vineyard tastings, not all of it refundable). The 17 Graveyard shiraz was released just the week before at $300ea, but no taste was offered without significant $ changing hands, so I didn’t bother. Generally, value is a dubious proposition here at the winery.
- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742162]2018 Brokenwood Sémillon[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11.5%, A$28} Bright, grassy aromas – classic youthful Semillon. Light/medium body, but with mouth-wateringly fresh acidity with doesn’t screech on the palate. It’s bone dry, with medium length, and grass-with-citrus flavours. Best example of this label I’ve tasted, at least since the 2010. Might even repay a decade in the cellar. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742163]2018 Brokenwood Cricket Pitch Sauvignon Blanc Sémillon[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, A$22} A pot-pourri of floral aromas on the nose, followed by a tropical fruit-salad, but still dry, palate, light/medium bodied, with soft acid and a slightly furry texture. Fairly short finish. Decent for a bistro quaffer. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742164]2018 Brokenwood Chardonnay Beechworth, Bathurst, McLaren Vale[/url] - Australia, Victoria, North East, Beechworth
{screwcap, 12.5%, A$30} A gentle wine; nuts and melon on the nose, a peachy richness to the palate spiced with light oak treatment and a bit of sandalwood flavour. Barely medium-bodied, but it does rather sit on the front of the tongue, and the finish is fairly short. A workmanlike offering, no more, although quite drinkable. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742165]2018 Brokenwood Sémillon Late Picked[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin
{screwcap, 10.5%, A$25} Very much off-dry in style. Grassy on the nose, but with a honeyed sweetness too. The palate has obvious sugar pumping up tropical fruit flavours, a light weight, medium acid which struggles to lift the wine, and a fairly short and simple finish. This really needs a decent chill and some spicy food to show its best. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742166]2018 Brokenwood Pinot Noir[/url] - Australia, Victoria, North East, Beechworth
{screwcap, 11.5%, A$36} Smokey nose; cured meats with a cherry lift. Gentle light/medium weight palate with soft dusty tannins, medium acidity, light and chewy fruit flavours; but without becoming a cordial drink. The finish is dry, a bit simple, and on the shorter side, but decent value for pinot. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742167]2018 Brokenwood Sangiovese Indigo Vineyard[/url] - Australia, Victoria, North East, Beechworth
{screwcap, 11.5%, A$36} Fresh cranberry/cherry nose. Little oak evident. Tart palate, with cherry and acerbic raspberry flavours, light/medium body, with the medium acid giving it a persistent finish of medium length. It’s dry, savoury, almost crunchy; very much better with food – it’s not an aperitif wine. Still, I thought it to be the pick of these three Beechworth reds. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742168]2018 Brokenwood Tempranillo[/url] - Australia, Victoria, North East, Beechworth
{screwcap, 11.5%, A$36} Bright crimson colour. An oak-free, vivid cherry nose. On the palate it has raspberry/chocolate flavours, light dusty tannins, medium acidity, and a light/medium weight. Dry, medium length finish. Seems more promising than the sangiovese, but then sits all on the front of the tongue, compromising the balance. Easy quaffer, no more. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742169]2017 Brokenwood Shiraz[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 14%, A$50} From a great Hunter vintage, this hits the right spots, even if the price is pushing things a bit. Leathery dark red fruits, soft spicy oak, a touch of leather, medium weight, with medium acid, dry and savoury dusty tannins, and a medium length finish. It’s quite dense, and seems made in a drink-now style; it’s perfectly open and expressive, with even palate presence right along the tongue. Tidy wine. We drank several more bottles at dinner (and even took some back to the hotel); it was consistent and eminently drinkable all the way along. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742170]2015 Brokenwood Shiraz Area Blend[/url] - Australia, South Eastern
{screwcap, 14%, A$36} From across NSW, Vic and SA apparently. But still in the savoury house style, which is to say it was fairly peppery, with tart, dry fruit, and without a lot of oak influence. Light/medium body, with medium acid, but only a short/medium finish, with a distinct dip on the mid-palate – honestly, find the extra money for the Hunter shiraz, which is twice the wine this is. There’s an anonymous quality to this that detracts from the overall impression. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742171]2016 Brokenwood Sémillon Sticky Wicket[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{375ml, screwcap, 10%, A$35} Botrytis characters; orange peel, dried apricot are evident on the nose. Luscious, medium-sweet palate, with orange and apricot flavours. Plenty of flavour, but paradoxically only light/medium in weight, and the acid is a bit reticent, which lends the whole things a slightly flabby air, with a cloying finish. Nice enough, but not a cellaring wine. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742172]NV Brokenwood Tawny Port[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin
{375ml, screwcap, 18%, A$35} Quince, caramel and molasses on the nose. The palate is sweet and easy, warm and spirit, with alcoholic butterscotch flavours. It’s medium weight, but lacks acidity. Some orange peel on the finish. Hard to reconcile the overall character with shiraz and Grenache; it tastes more white-grape influenced somehow. Again, not a keeper.
By sheer fluke, I arrive here just as the 2018 reds are being released. Unfortunately, the fully-allocated $90 shirazes – 4 acres, Johnno’s, Old Patch - are not available to taste (for those, attend the May public tastings in each capital city), but all the rest is here, at the more relaxed pace of the Private Bin room - along with some scatty remnants of the previous release whites. Also, everything is in new labels – again! – in what must surely be the final label overhaul for a decade or so. Yeesh. Who knows what a Tyrrells label looks like anymore? I must say, as a final note, that these wines all have a distinct family resemblance, much as the various crus of Burgundy would have, so there is much overlapping territory among these tasting notes. I suspect the true underlying differences will take years to emerge. And although the prices are rising significantly, it’s probably about time, considering the inherent quality of the wines themselves. To a degree, they have to overcome the mostly inferior reputation earned over the twenty years from from the 80s to mid 00s, so scepticism is understandable. But really, these are now very authentic and impressive wines indeed. And a final note; all the reds in this tasting were bottled in the preceding three weeks, so it’s no surprise I struggled to focus on the underlying differences; there really was a uniformity of character among them at this early, disjointed, stage. Pricing is from the Private Bin member list. Good big glasses for tasting, and plenty of them.
- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742192]NV Tyrrell's Traditional Method Pinot Noir Chardonnay[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 12.5%} Clean easy fizz. Fine bubbles, if a bit aggressive. Mostly chardonnay and lemon flavours; clean finish, light-bodied, crisp texture, dry to the point of sourness (could be extra-brut I reckon), dry, short-medium finish. Lacks autolysis complexity, but then the price is not steep either. Time is money. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742193]2018 Tyrrell's Sémillon Vat 1[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 12%, A$50} Big, vivid floral nose of roses, perfume and a little cut grass only. The palate is soft-textured and lemony, with a hint of sherbert. Dry, and with seemingly medium high acidity, only light-bodied, and with a medium/long finish. I sense something early-maturing for some reason. Very nice now. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742194]2014 Tyrrell's Sémillon Vat 1[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11.5%} Straw aromas, developing grassy and toast notes. Still medium/high acid, medium weight; there’s a hint of honey on toast about the flavours, but the wine is dry, of course. Medium/long finish; a great mix of balance and power. Quite drinkable now, should age well for the rest of its decade. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742196]2013 Tyrrell's Sémillon Single Vineyard HVD[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11.5%} Seems to have picked up a lot of trophies lately, but I was a little underwhelmed. Honey and grass nose, but dilute somehow; can a bouquet be wishy-washy? Dry, medium weight palate, medium acid and length; softening texture, tangy fruit, but very much ready to drink I think. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742197]2016 Tyrrell's Chardonnay Belford[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Belford
{screwcap, 13%} Matchstick, figs and creamy oak. Medium acid, medium weight; decent white fruit palate, some oak, a bit developed. Warm white fruits, tilted towards the front palate for presence. OK, but not terribly exciting. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742198]2017 Tyrrell's Pinot Noir Vat 6[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.5%} Sweet strawberry nose, then cherry aromas, but with underlying earth and dirt. Super dry palate, savoury and dusty; low dusty tannins, light body only, but with a medium-length finish despite its generally light presence. Really meant for food, but also wants another five years cellaring at least. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742200]2018 Tyrrell's Shiraz Single Vineyard Mother's[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin
{screwcap, 13.7%, A$30} Gluey oak and raspberry fruit. Low dusty tannins, savoury dusty cherry flavours. Light body, medium/high acid; restrained overall. Medium length finish, wants time to develop. Small production; it’s all gained in a single two-year-old 2600 litre French cask. Pretty good value if you give it some time. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742201]2018 Tyrrell's Shiraz Old Hut[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$32} Honestly, very similar indeed to the Mothers; raspberry and a touch of youthful oak influence. It’s a bit more fleshy on the palate, with a suggestion of blue fruit. Low/medium dusty tannins, little obvious oak, medium weight and length. Stainless steel ferment, aging in old 500l French puncheons. Tidy effort. Worth the $2 over Mothers I reckon! - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742202]2018 Tyrrell's Shiraz 8 Acres[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 14%, A$90} A new ‘Sacred Site’, not yet sold out. Harvested Feb 1; all of 2700 litres produced. This has polished blackberries on the nose, intense and pointed, but never heavy. The palate has medium/high acidity, low/medium powdery tannins, medium weight and a medium length, even palate, with youthful, black-tinged savoury flavours. Time, gentlemen, please. Hard to see value, yes; but then all the Sacred Site red wines are a single cask giving just 250-300 dozen bottles, so rarity must have its price. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742203]2018 Tyrrell's Shiraz Old Hillside[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.4%, A$45} A renamed variant of the old Stevens shiraz. Blackberry and plum nose. Medium acid, medium powdery tannins. Pepper and spice flavours, with blackberry. Fine-grained texture, medium weight, medium/long finish. Even, very tidy palate. Open-top vat ferment, 15 months in newer 2500l French casks. I even liked this enough to buy some. Which will get a decade’s well-needed aging. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742204]2018 Tyrrell's Shiraz Single Vineyard NVC[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.4%, A$45} An imminent sacred site, apparently, so buy now before the price doubles! There’s a great Australian farming tradition whereby extra fridges sit, sheltered on the verandah, outside the farmhouse. One is the ‘old fridge’ and one is the ‘new fridge’. The old fridge will be 35 years old, and the new fridge will be 20 years old. Well, NVC stands for New Vine Cuttings. The NVC vineyard was planted in 1921; this is its first labelled re-appearance in a decade after extensive vineyard work. The wine smells of dark berries and spice; it has medium acid, medium powdery tannins; rather subdued dark fruit; it’s hard to get away from the sense of dumbness. It’s just medium weight, but with a medium/long finish. Needs time. The produce of a single 2300l new French cask, so there’s not much of it. A bad time to taste this I expect, even compared to the other wines. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742205]2018 Tyrrell's Shiraz Vat 9[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$67} With all these sacred sites’ fruit being pulled out to bottle separately, you might expect the quality of Vat 9 to suffer. But it seems to be better than ever. It’s a fuller style than the sacred site wines, with a big malty dark nose, spicy blue-fruited palate, with fine, dusty, medium level tannins, medium acid, medium/full body (in a savoury Hunter context – you won’t mistake it for McLaren Vale). Medium/long finish. Really good wine, in a fairly mainstream style. Open-top ferment, matured in one and two year-old 2700l French casks. Should age for, well, ages really. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742206]2018 Tyrrell's Vat 8[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, A$50} It might only have 10% cabernet, but my goodness, its presence is easily noted. Mint touch, blue fruit. A malty blue/black touch on the palate too. Very lean and pointed cabernet influence after the savoury shiraz majority. Even palate, medium/full body, medium dusty tannins, but not overtly oaky, despite the only red in the portfolio that sees barrique maturation (but just six months’ worth). Actually it’s not bad value, considering the quality of the fruit, but it’s still a bit young to drink. Give it 3 years, then drink it over the next twenty!
The 2017 reds – from this great vintage – were my chief interest here. And things are looking good. The value for money offered is really very impressive, especially beyond the basic offerings, which are still very sound – if a touch anonymous – in their own right. Prices below are single bottle at cellar door; dozen price is 10% off, members get another 5% off that (for any quantity). Nice big, fine-rimmed tasting glasses. Non-members pay a $15 refundable-on-purchase tasting fee for the premium wines. A purist maker and cellar door in the Burgundian mould (which in the Hunter means Semillon and shiraz only) which is one of the must-visits of the valley.
- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742209]2018 Andrew Thomas Wines Sémillon Murphy's Vineyard[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, A$26} Floral and grass nose. Sweetly tropical flavours, capped with grass and soft citrus; medium/high acidity give a crisp edge; yet the palate is resolutely dry and zingy. Light-bodied, but with a medium/long finish. Really good, and terrific value for another 5-8 years easily. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742210]2018 Andrew Thomas Wines Sémillon Braemore[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 11.8%, A$33} Delicate nose of straw, citrus, lime. Subtle, even palate of sherbert, lively, but dry, dusty and yet crisp too. High acidity, medium weight. Medium long, even finish, but on the low-key side. Classy. I’m not really sure about Braemore for long-term aging – older examples have never really rocked me thus far. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742211]2017 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz DJV[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13%, A$35} Spice, white pepper and hard cherry. The Hunter speaking Chianti dialect. Low oak, light body, minimal tannins, lifted spicy fruit, with a nod to red flavours but also a sandy character. Food wine in the good sense. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742212]2017 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz Individual Vineyard The Cote[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin
{screwcap, 14.5%, A$35} A new cuvee this vintage. From a dry-grown vineyard. Some spice and sweet raspberry on the nose. The palate is light/medium-bodied, a bit peppery and savoury, but generous red fruit fights through; cranberries perhaps. Needs time - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742213]2017 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz Sweetwater Individual Vineyard[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 14.3%, A$35} Smoke, tobacco and earth. Tobacco on the palate too, dark fruits, violets, very earthy, with medium acid and weight, medium dusty tannins, and a medium length, fairly even finish. Tidy wine which wants a bit of time. Pretty good value. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742215]2017 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz Individual Vineyard Dam Block[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin
{screwcap, 14.5%, A$45} Polished nose of plums and blueberry. Red fruit and spice on the palate along with the plums; this has a generous sweetness to it. Low/medium powdery tannins, not too oaky. Medium weight, with a solid mid-palate and medium length finish. I liked this a lot – enough to buy even! - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742216]2017 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz Individual Vineyard Belford[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Belford
{screwcap, 14.5%, A$38} First release of this member’s-only wine. Nose of sand, spice and black pepper. Medium acid, medium powdery tannins; peppery and earthy on the palate too – some red cherry fruit but a lot of earth too. Like a grown-up version of the DJV bottling. Medium/long finish in a fairly lean style. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742218]2017 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz Elenay Barrel Selection[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 14.5%, A$55} Barrel selection out of the Sweetwater, Kiss, Belford, Dam Block barrique inventories, all blended together. Rich, exotic. “Elenay” is a refined version of “L & A”; that in turn stood for an originally slutty cuvee called ‘lips and arseholes.’ So it’s the hedonist’s blend. Blackberries, chocolate, spice, tobacco; actually it really does smell and taste like a selection of its components. Warm palate of dried red berry fruit, medium powdery tannins, medium weight and finish, but still has a fresh vibrancy to it. Good for a decade at least. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742220]2017 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz Kiss[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin
{screwcap, 14.5%, A$85} Polished blackberry fruit and sandalwood oak. Medium acid. Even palate of clean blackberries, polished and ripe. Velvety texture, medium dusty tannins, oak seasoning. Medium/full-body, medium/long finish. Really nice wine, in a fruit-driven style. Should age beautifully for twenty years, if a tasting of the 15yo 2001 was any guide some years ago. One to keep. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742221]2009 Andrew Thomas Wines Sémillon Braemore[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap} Grassy and herbal. Seems lighter and younger than a decade old. Broader palate though, dusty texture, medium acid, medium weight, long finish, although not that nuanced really. Grassy though. A bit in between. More time won’t hurt I don’t think. Not quite hitting the mark at the moment.
Graeme