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

The Family Collection

2023 The Kester Shiraz

Variety:     Shiraz (99%) Viognier (1%)
Region:     Hunter Valley

Tasting Notes

Dense crimson purple in colour.

Opening with bright aromas similar to the beautiful 2022 Kester, albeit with riper-black fruit density and depth. A shape-shifting bouquet that glides from fresh raspberry and plum through to black-cherry and cola, with brushstrokes of fresh herb. Aromas deepen to include fuller scents of black-liquorice and anise, with finer hints of cranberry. French oak sits quietly in the background giving ever-present subtle notes of sandalwood, cinnamon, and chamomile.

Black fruits dominate the palate, red-fruit energy contributes a bright lift and length with notes of pomegranate and sweet red-currant. Cola sits centrally with a glossy inky richness and fine depth, broadening to accents of black olive tapenade and aniseed. Already delivering a wonderfully integrated harmony of fruit and barrel, with interwoven characters of berry, spice and herb. Dark chocolate tannins underpin the ripe fruits with a lovely foundation, subtle hints of graphite and an elegant dryness like liquorice-dust, finishing with an espresso-like creaminess.

The Kester is very drinkable and enjoyable young, yet this wine always holds remarkably well in the cellar and improves greatly with age. My recommendation is to decant if drinking before 2030, or drink and enjoy anytime without the need to decant through to 2040.

Drink: Now to 2040+

Halliday Wine Companion 96 points

Technical Data

Alcohol: 13.9%
pH: 3.52