2022 Hunter Valley Shiraz Viognier

Variety: 100% Shiraz

Region: Hunter Valley

Tasting Note

This is an elegant light dry red that embodies the historic 'HRB' style of the Hunter Valley wine region; this is a wine that is fresh and ready to enjoy, delightfully supple and juicy.

The nose fills with subtle cinnamon spice, lavender and rose petal, carrying onto the palate to add delicate layers over the lip-smacking red cherry flavour. Its deliciously approachable and easy to enjoy.

You can pour at room temperature or even chilled to enjoy with good food and company.

Drink: Now

Food Match: Pizza, BBQ, Pasta

FIELD OF MARS - Single Vineyard Range                            

Field of Mars Block 4 Chardonnay 2022

Variety:   100% Chardonnay

Region:     Pokolbin, Hunter Valley

Vineyard:  Field of Mars Vineyard

Vine Age:  Vines planted in 2014

Soils:        Fine, sandy alluvial

Tasting Note                                              

In 2014 we established Block 4 on a tiny patch of fine alluvial sand, planting Chardonnay Clone 548 on rootstock Paulson 1103. The vines are close planted to twice the normal vine number per hectare,so this vineyard is ultra-low yielding and produces high-quality wines that are powerful and complex.

Aromas are instantly engaging delivering powerful golden Summer stone fruits, plus beautiful sulphite rich scents of gunsmoke and oyster shell. The bouquet develops into an exotic mélange of fruit and flower, with hints of musk, pineapple, ozone and sea spray adding flair and substance. Finer aromas of marzipan and pistachio are there as well, with very elegant hints of cashew and vanilla, combining to deliver superb harmony of fruit.
The powerful fruit core gives terrific presence and length, opening with the glorious flavours of golden peach and white nectarine switching softly to gentle savoury notes of brown fig and soft yellow apple.
As these mainstay flavours open out, the palate reveals extra dimensions of soft velvety texture, closing with gentle French oak hints of amaretti-biscuit and nougat. Fine acidity brings the palate to an elegant yet soft finish with a tangy sea-spray salinity.
This wonderful and complex Chardonnay will be a challenge to keep. Ideal cellaring is from 2 to 6 years.

Drink: now – 2030

96 points Halliday Wine Companion

95 points The Real Review

Limited Edition - only 68 dozen made

Technical Data

Alcohol: 12.2

pH: 3.25

TA: 7.5

Single Vineyard Range

2023 Norlana Vineyard Shiraz

Variety:     100% Shiraz

Region:     Upper Hunter Valley

Vineyard:  Norlana Vineyard  

Tasting Note

Norlana is an outstanding vineyard just outside Denman in the Upper Hunter Valley, on a gentle hillside overlooking the confluence of the Goulburn and Hunter Rivers. The soil is a rich black clay flecked with iron-stone and red gravel, generating a perfumed style of Hunter Shiraz.
A swirl of lovely aromas open with concentrated inky black cherry, a delicious mix of cassis, kirsch and mineral, richly scented with floral touches of mulberry and violets.
Glossy mouth-filling flavours, tightly wound with delicious intensity, dark stone-fruit combining beautifully with notes of briar, eucalypt and white pepper. Powerful yet gentle tannins, tongue staining and central, flow around the primary Shiraz core with the softness and density of dark chocolate.
12 months in a large format 1500 litre French oak barrel combines the fruit and oak to deliver a seamless harmony, intense and deep like fine espresso coffee, with lasting notes of sandalwood, bay leaf and peppery licorice.

It greatly rewards decanting, 1 hour before drinking. Afterwards, this wine is amazing.

Wine Companion 96 points

Drink: Now – 2035

Limited Edition – only 162 dozen made

 Technical Data

Alcohol: 13.0%

pH: 3.52

TA: 6.0

Single Vineyard Range

2022 WCD Shiraz

Variety:     Shiraz (100%) 
Region:     Hunter Valley

Vineyard:  WCD Vineyard

This fruit comes from a vineyard located less than 14km from our cellar door, on Wine Country Drive in central Pokolbin. This site enjoys balanced weather influences, gifting the site with slightly cooler Summer days with slightly more Easterly breeze. Soils are deep brown clays with flecks of red ironstone.

The Shiraz fruit from here has imposing ripeness yet also expresses a tinge of dark spice and ferrous savouriness, something of a classic hallmark for Hunter reds.

The aromas express dense blackfruit compote, mixing the freshness of black cherry and blood plum in even unity, plus deeper aromatic swirls of rotundone, juniper, and black Ceylon tea; on the palate, Ripe Shiraz fruit again delivers a rich seamless balance of plum and cherry, soft already onto a long finish. This inky blackfruit core is harmonised with notes of fine oak spice and cedar, and the finish delivers equally harmonious hints of graphite and black chocolate laced with licorice.

The WCD Shiraz is a charmer with bold expression yet refined soft tannins. 3 to 5 years in the cellar would be ideal, or if drinking before then decant for early reward.

Drink: Now to 2032

Only 157 dozen made

95 points Wine Companion

Technical Data

Alc 13.5%