Highlights from 36 hours in the Hunter Valley: the good, bad and #Semsational

Mrs Ozwinereview and I don’t get many chances for sans-child dining anymore, so on those very rare occasions when the small child goes away, we tend to eat/drink all of the things in grand style.

That’s probably the right way to describe our 36-hour Hunter Valley sojourn a weekend or so back too, which was punctuated by quantities of Semillon and one of the best meals of 2023.

Want to come on the journey with us?

It’s hard to beat Muse Dining for the correct way to start a Hunter weekend, and this was our delicious Friday night entree. I’ve been to Muse several times over the past decade, and it feels detailed and special every time.

This visit didn’t disappoint.

Every dish had such thought, from the woodfired oysters with katsuobushi butter to the bonito with finger lime + caviar. And the service feels so settled, so polished.

5 stars would go again (and again).

By contrast, while the food at Restaurant Botanica on the Saturday night of our whistlestop tour was excellent, the experience wasn’t Muse tier. Botanica was clearly understaffed, which led to empty glasses not being refilled, forgotten side salads etc. Not quite the X-factor either, even though price-wise they’re not far apart (Muse degustation is $155 vs $130 at Botanica).

No shortage of love for the kitchen, just a step behind in execution. Indeed, I loved this deconstructed apple mille-feuille:

Friday drinks

There was a lot of Semillon this whole weekend. I love the stuff. Give me the tight lines and enthralling nuances of a five to fifteen-year-old Hunter Valley Semillon any day of the week. Yes! Truly one of the misunderstood glories of Australian wine (while curiously ignored by many in the wine trade).

The weekend started with a bottle of Thomas Wines Braemore Semillon 2018, which was just entering its drinking window. Think green apple fruit, just starting to flesh out with a little toast. I’ve always seen volume in the 2018 Hunter whites, which still looks like a bigger Braemore (which is not a bad thing at all). Such an enjoyable, multi-faceted wine, even if it’s more about the future. I should buy some of this; it’s a steal in fine wine terms.

Interestingly, I had a glass of Louis Roederer Collection 242 NV alongside it, and the Braemore had its measure – especially with the Muse oysters. On that point, Hungerford Hill winemaker Bryan Currie (who we caught up with on Saturday) noted how mad it is that Hunter Semillon isn’t the de rigueur oyster wine of choice in Australia. Instead, somms defer to Muscadet, Champagne etc, when something homegrown offers something often better (and cheaper).

Speaking of food matches, reds felt like an afterthought with Muse’s white wine-leaning menu, but a glass of Vajra Dolcetto 2021 was a mouthfilling and approachable dark-berried thing (in the correct Dolcetto way) with easy charm. Not complex, but exactly what you’d want. Finally, a middling Valencisco Rioja Riserva 2015 was in there too, which I thought lacked complexity. Meh.

Hungerford Hill

Come Saturday, and with it an excuse to taste things out of barrel at Hungerford Hill.

Bryan (who is GM + winemaker at Hungerford Hill) and I have judged together plenty over the years, so this was as much a reason to catch up as a tasting.

Lots of interesting wines, too – not least a 2023 Fiano from tank, which looked rather delicious. ‘It’s the best of the Italian whites, ‘ explains Currie, who has also seen Fiano gain traction with the Hungerford Hill mailing list. How can anyone ignore a wine that sells well, has a personality, and packs such enjoyable contrast of naturally refreshing acidity and flavour.

Speaking of acidity, you’ll see some blindingly taut wines out of 2023 from Tumbarumba, judging by what was in tank/barrel at Hungerford Hill. The late, low-yielding harvest has produced wild acidity, even for fruit picked well into May – I tasted some spine-tingling 2023 Tumbarumba Chardonnay out of barrel with total acidity beyond 10g/L, which felt like tasting mouth-puckering Chablis from a cool year. Acid hounds rejoice! They didn’t look unbalanced to me, just powerful. Bryan thinks this is a vintage where a full malolactic fermentation and time in barrel/bottle will be quintessential (and even some chaptilisation).

Finally, in direct contrast, there was 2023 Hunter Valley Shiraz (from the Sweetwater Vineyard) that looked seriously purple and powerful. Everyone is pumped about ’23 for reds, with the surprisingly sunny summer making for Shiraz of volume and flavour. Quite a contrast to the early season, which was so wet that sprays had to be done by helicopter because tractor movements were impossible in the mud. Indeed, it will be a mixed vintage for Semillon (with botrytis and mildew a challenge), but red wine? Power. I spoke to Alisdair Tulloch (from Keith Tulloch Wine) about this today, with Tulloch also waxing lyrical about 2023 vintage Chardonnay.

Believe the hype.

Migrating from barrel to bottled wines, and again the Hungerford Hill Tumbarumba releases are the standouts. Perhaps it’s sacrilege talking about Tumbarumba wines in a post about the Hunter Valley, but both Hungerford Hill & Bryan Currie (‘I’ve now made wine from every vineyard in Tumbarumba’ says Bryan) have long histories with the wines from this fast-rising NSW wine region, despite the area’s challenges with frosts and bushfires.

Speaking of, the Hungerford Hill Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2022 (above right) is an illustration of what the region can do, with a careful mix of just-ripe, cool white peach fruit volume tempered with prominent (but not hard) acidity and anethereal, white-flower-whispers Tumby style.

Flipping back to the Hunter, I enjoyed the Sweetwater Semillon 2022 from the broader Hungerford portfolio, even if it doesn’t taste like your usual Hunter Sem (fuller, more textured, more appley). Do you know what the star of this lineup in bottle was, though? The Hungerford Hill Revee Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 (pictured below).

Bryan thinks it is the best Pinot Noir he has ever made, and this defined, fine-boned red manages to be graceful yet powerful and firm too. Think, ‘I’m real cool climate’ style cherry tones, with firm tannins and length, but the stuffing is there in the middle.

Impressive.

Tyrrell’s

The final stop on this Hunter adventure was Tyrrell’s for a Semillon and Shiraz dive.

I need a personal caveat here – there is more Tyrrell’s Semillon in the official Australian Wine and Drinks Review cellar any other white wine. As a result, this felt more like a check-in with how vintages and wines are faring (and when to open things) than a comprehensive critical experience.

Tune out now if you have no interest in Tyrrell’s Hunter Semillon & Shiraz.

For one, you shouldn’t bother opening most of the 2022 ‘Private Bin’ range of single vineyard Tyrrell’s Sem any time soon. These are snappy, occasionally green-edged white wines of acidity, length, and line. Things for drinking in the distant future, not now.

Nothing shows that more than the Tyrrell’s Belford Semillon 2022, which looked very firm, with a little green pea wet year notes on the nose and shunting acidity. The Belford Vineyard, with its almost talc-like sand, can produce wines like this sometimes. It was probably my least favourite of the ’22s. The Tyrrell’s HVD Semillon 2022, however, was a superstar. It marvels me to think this is just $29 a bottle (for members), There’s real volume in this HVD – it’s a very young Semillon, but with this waxy lemon approachability and weight too. For a wine style made for the cellar, and already closing down, the generosity is pretty remarkable. Yes, please. In fact, I like the HVD more than the $58/bottle Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon 2022. A special mention to the Tyrrell’s Steven’s Semillon 2022 which was my other pick after HVD.

Of course, it’s madness drinking these single vineyard Semillon at 12 months. They’re angular, especially in 2022, and already starting to shut down. Wait.

By contrast, and here is a prime example, the 2016 Tyrrell’s Semillon range is in a very good place. The Tyrrell’s Belford Semillon 2016 is a bejewelled and detailed white wine, with the same angular lines that made the 2022 so unappealing now giving this 2016 presence and line, fleshed out with just a little toast. I like it more than the top dog 2017 Vat 1 as well, funnily enough (but the 2016 Vat 1 is better than both of them). The ’17s are voluminous, warm year Sems, and often those vintages need more time (like the 2014s if you’re playing at home). There was a 2009 Vat 1 on the table too, but I thought it wasn’t a great bottle (served from a nearly empty bottle under Coravin).

Next: from Semillon and into Shiraz.

As Trent Mannell (long-time Wine Selectors tasting panel member now back at Tyrrell’s) noted while pouring the wines, the 2022 vintage has many shades to it. It was wet, and getting tractors on to do sprays was also a challenge (the Stevens Vineyard was almost a no-go for a while, and the winery lost fruit). But this harvest wasn’t washed out like other La Nina years (where reds end up flavourless).

It’s interesting to compare the 2022 wines to the smattering of 2021 Tyrrell’s single vineyard reds too. There is power in the ’21s but a Hunter River Burgundy classicness to the ’22s. I like the former more, but it’s not consistent (and too early for sweeping comments.

For a quick taste of the 2022 Tyrrell’s reds, I thought the Tyrrell’s Mothers Vineyard Shiraz 2022 – made from a young vine block planted in 2010 just south of the winey – was generous and approachable, if straightforward. The Old Hut Vineyard Shiraz 2022 was a bit jubey, while the NVC Shiraz 2022, off a block planted in 1921 looks surprisingly oaky and rich (which is perhaps unsurprising given it was matured in one-year-old smaller oak. There was a taste of the Centenary Collection Shiraz Pinot Noi 2021 alongside, which uses old vine fruit from Tyrrell’s & Mount Pleasant but it didn’t move me much. Strong Pinosity but overshadowed by the pure wines around (especially when it’s effectively a $112 wine).

Next, a fast-paced taste of the Tyrrell’s Johnno’s Shiraz 2022 again showed a wine that is very different to the rest of the range. Off alluvial soils, rather than the richer red soils that most of the traditional Hunter red wines are favoured for, this looked high-toned and even quite pretty, albeit with the stamp of new oak adding some grainy vanilla. I thought the Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Shiraz 2022 alongside was less memorable (and my limited notes agree) which is something of a surprise. Finally, Tyrrell’s Vat 8 Shiraz Cabernet 2022 is 30% McLaren Vale Cabernet this vintage and matured in small oak. It looks South Australian in its richness too – a wine of dark red/black fruit volume, and so much chunkier compared to a lineup of quintessentially mid-weight, red-fruited wines.

Saturday drinks

After a night and a day with a shitload of wines, I didn’t quite feel like draining endless bottles on Saturday night. But that didn’t stop me draining a few glasses of the Keith Tulloch Field of Mars Block 2 Semillon 2019. Historically, it’s five or six years before you drink the trad. Hunter Valley Semillon style, but this Keith Tulloch was delicious. Made in the archetypal form – off fruit grown on alluvial sand, matured in stainless steel/bottle, and weighing in at 10.5% alcohol (with a pH of 2.91) – this felt quite grand. Dense, lightly toasty, maybe a little forward on the nose but such power. The only thing I don’t like is the label which looks dated. Enjoyed the wine, though.

By comparison, the half glass of Shadowfax Chardonnay 2021 also sampled at dinner looked like a blunt object. Oak sat on top of the delicate Macedon Ranges fruit, with acidity then muddling things again. It will get better, but all arms and chunky oak for now (despite the obvious flavour density).

Again, why wouldn’t you just stick to the #semsational Semillon?