2018 'THE KESTER' Shiraz

The Family Collection Range

2018 The Wife Shiraz 

Varieties:   Shiraz 90 %,  Viognier 10 %

Region:      Lower Hunter Valley

Vine Age:   Shiraz 20years+, Viognier planted 2010      
 

This wine is handmade for my wife Amanda, who loves aromatic and gentle reds.          

Tasting Notes  

This wine’s youthful freshness shows in the glass – its colour is scarlet red with fresh blue highlights at the rim. Aromatically, the co-fermentation of Shiraz & Viognier delivers a complex melange where black cherry is supreme, revelling in fresh perfumed flashes of violet-flower and potpourri lavender. The unmissable allure of Viognier is woven throughout, interlacing with opulent perfumes of orange flowers and fresh apricot; this harmony continues on the palate, where the Shiraz supplies juicy depth whilst the Viognier  provides silky softness. Characters drift from black-berries in cream to apricot tart with delicious textural gentleness. This is all crowned by subtly spicy oak, giving final hints of vanilla, cinnamon, and gingerbread to support the wine’s fresh fruit flavour.

Irresistible – obviously!

Drink : 2020  to 2030 
  

Technical Data

Alcohol  14.3% 

pH 3.43

Variety: 47% Marsanne | 43%  Roussanne  | 10% Viognier
Region: Hunter Valley

Tasting Notes

This wine was previously known as Epogée

The boldness of this wine is obvious even in how it presents in the glass, with a strong lemon-yellow colour with flecks of green.

Aromatically, this wine is really in a class of its own. All three varieties contribute differently to the bouquet: Marsanne (47%) gifts the highlights of fresh citrus and pear, sweet lemon and fig. Roussanne (43%) fills out the fruit accents of ripe apple, honey, and fine herb tea. 

Finally, a dash of Viognier (10%) brings bright and floral distinction, with clear notes of honeysuckle and orange blossom plus hints of jasmine. 

The characteristics of each variety add a different character to the aroma and this complexity carries on throughout the palate of the wine. The Marsanne and Roussanne combine perfectly for pear, fig and macadamia flavours that are lush, layered and textured whilst viognier confers a nectarine tang with fine cardamom-like spiciness. These three varieties were fermented individually in French oak barrels before blending, which supports these layers of texure with subtle spice and creaminess onto the finish.

Drink:Now to 2025
Food Match: Gnocchi, pasta, or seafood

Technical Data

Alcohol: 12.6%
pH: 3.32 

2017 Forres Blend

Variety:    91% Cabernet Sauvignon 9% Cabernet Franc
Region:     Hilltops and Hunter Valley
Vineyard:  Freeman and Peter Drayton Vineyard

Tasting Notes     

Colour is dense red-crimson with a bright hue of blue-purple.

On the aroma, Cabernet Sauvignon is sovereign, an aromatic cascade of blackberry with cassis-like intensity and depth, brightened with the characteristic Cabernet Franc flair of raspberry and herb-like aromas of lavender and gun-smoke.  

Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the palate too with glossy back fruit richness of significant depth, contributing delicious tannins that deliver gravelly persistence and structure.

Cabernet Franc adds its distinguished flair from start to finish, lifting the palate as it does the aroma, gifting hints of raspberry and pomegranate and then herb fumé with its authentic bright lightness.

The 2017 Forres Bend is all about a perfect Cabernet partnership delivering true fruit harmony and expression, uniting the aristocratic richness of Cabernet Sauvignon with vibrant Cabernet Franc energy.

Drink: Now to 2029.
Food Match: Venison, gamey meats and lamb

Technical Data

Alcohol: 14.5%

The Family Collection

2017 The Doctor Shiraz

I’m proud that we can create a wine that honours my father’s incredible lifetime of work in the Australian wine industry as a renowned viticulturist and PhD. Throughout my life, Harry has been my teacher. 

In exceptional red vintages, I taste through the best barrels of Hunter Valley Shiraz with Harry. His favourite barrels are kept aside, blended and bottled in extremely limited quantities. In a way, this wine is more his taste than mine - a bold, rich expression of Hunter Shiraz more atuned to the old school than the new school, but brimming with quality.

Tasting Note

This Shiraz is the most lavish and concentrated wine that we produce. It’s a wine that explodes out of the glass with descriptors for colour, aroma and palate that are inseparable. .

Simmering and bold, ripe and dense fruit flavours; blackberry, blueberry and liquorice. There are notes of cranberry, orange, spice and dark chocolate, supported by the grainy espresso-like tannins in equal parts from low-yielding fruit and fine French oak. The Doctor 2017 really stamps its authority as the mouthful fades – instead of diminishing or finishing there is a persistent hum of bright fruit flavour, leading one taste into the next in seemingly never-ending waves of cascading and evolving Shiraz fruit complexity.

Drink : Now to 2040

Technical Data

Alcohol 15%