2018 McKelvey Shiraz

2018 Hunter Valley Semillon

Variety:  100% Semillon
Region:  Hunter Valley
Vine Age:  Planted in 1968

Vineyard : Keith Tulloch Estate

Tasting Notes

A classic Semillon pure and fine, with bright green straw colour highlights. Aromas are zesty and intense, brimming with lemonade, lemongrass, ripe lime and soft orange grapefruit. Delicate floral hints of green-clover flower build nuanced complexity. The flavours are precise and detailed, showing primary juicy lemon brightness with satiny length, finishing with a slight pithy tang and crunchy, energetically fresh persistence.

There is a great cellaring future ahead. Beautiful harmony will begin to develop within 1-2 years, while 5 to 10 years will elevate this regal youngster into a classic Hunter Semillon.

Drink: Now to 2028.
Food Match: Fresh oysters, and prawns.

Technical Data

Alcohol: 11%
pH: 2.93

Single Vineyard Range

2018 Tawarri Vineyard Shiraz

Variety:  100% Shiraz
Region:  Upper Hunter Valley

Tasting Notes

Sited at the top reaches of the Hunter Valley, high on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range at an altitude of 460m. This isolated site benefits from rich black soils and a cool, dry continental climate; the result is a Shiraz showcasing such wonderful depth of colour, deeply saturated with dark crimson and scarlet tinged with vibrant indigo at the rim.

The aroma equally boasts not only fresh and floral aromas of black fruit but more cool-climate notes of violets and peppercorn from the altitude and soils of this vineyard. Bright energetic flavours of black cherry, damson plum and spice - more black pepper than briar - with delicious depth are tightly coiled around a line of fine natural acidity, surrounded by the supporting flavour and textures of maturation in French oak barrique. 

 This is a concentrated yet elegant wine from a great Vintage that surpasses any Tawarri release we’ve made before. For sheer intensity and finesse, it’s a marvel, that that cries out for cellaring for 5 to 10 years at least.

Drink: Now to 2030. 165 dozen made. 

Technical Data

Alcohol: 14.5%

Single Vineyard Range

2018 Bainton Vineyard Shiraz    

Varieties:   100% Shiraz      

Vineyard:   Bainton Vineyard

Region:      Fordwich, Hunter Valley

Vine age:   Vines planted in 1923, 1942 and 1955

Tasting Note                                       

This single outstanding dry grown vineyard has an East-West row orientation on colluvial soil; deep, dark gravel fringing on rocky sandstone hills. Blocks were planted at the base of the Brokenback Range with an East-west row orientation. The Bainton family have grown the fruit for our wines from this heritage listed vineyard for almost twenty years. Shiraz from this site shows considerable colour and structure.

Deep aromas and flavours of blackberry, liquorice, and black pepper with a generous understory of velvety oak. Dense and bold, these present as layers of vanilla and cinnamon, pepper and fresh clove. Grape tannins attest to wonderful fruit ripeness, delivering their solid foundation of concentrated inky blackness. 

This wine is a keeper, a gentle giant needing 5 years to truly integrate and develop, but will bide it’s time effortlessly until you’re ready. It’s a Hunter Valley heavy-weight with enormous potential, definitely one for the cellar.

Drink: Now – 2030.

Extremely Limited Release 79 dozen made.                                    

Technical Data

Alcohol: 14.3%

Single Vineyard Range

2019 Latara Vineyard Semillon                                           

Variety:      100% Semillon 

Vineyard:    Keith Tulloch Latara Vineyard

Region:       Pokolbin, Hunter Valley

Vine age:    Vines planted in 1978

Tasting Notes

This single vineyard on Deasys Road, Pokolbin was established in 1978 on volcanic, clay and limestone soils. The site has a gentle rise with a Western aspect, providing plentiful sunlight for consistently outstanding fruit. Latara Semillon posses a very striking personality: a pure clarity of colour, aroma and flavour, delivering extra radiance and volume with natural grace and power.

Colour : Extremely fine with flecks of lime and neon-green.

Aromas: The vineyard signature fruit characters are ripe lime-juice and lemongrass through to zesty tropical notes of Kaffir lime and pineapple. 

Palate: A bolder expressive palate full of juicy lime energy with the textural roundness of golden apple with zesty tropical fruit and pineapple. Flavours combine with an elegant sherbet-like balance: fresh and tangy, effortlessly long, with terrific focus and persistence. 

Cellaring: Showing beautiful harmony already, but in 5 years it will be sensational drinking, and in 10 years even better.

Drink: Now - 2030. 
165 dozen made.                                                          

Technical Data
Alcohol   10.5%
pH           2.74
TA           7.6