The Hunter Valley: tasting new and old goodies with a bunch of legends in 2024

As a Sydney-based wine person, the Hunter Valley is basically home turf, with the two-and-a-bit-hour drive to wine country ground zero just part of the Sydney-Hunter wine experience.

But over the past few years, I’ve felt more like a shitty fly-by-night visitor, driving/running past vineyards rather than stepping into them.

So it was quite a genuine pleasure to spend 36 hours last week back on the Hunter horse at what turned out to be one of the best media/trade tours I’ve been to in yonks.

Hosted by the Hunter Valley Wine & Tourism Association, this was a 36-hour flying ‘Showcase’ hosted by winners from the Hunter Valley Legends awards (including viticulturists, winemakers, tourism types, and more), centred around a select few dinners, masterclasses and tastings.

Sometimes, trips like this can feel formulaic or forced. But this was different, especially because half the invited guests dropped out. No, I didn’t know why and didn’t ask. However, it changed the whole dynamic. Sure, it left just Tom Kline and myself to be outnumbered by winemakers, which was weird, but it also meant that the usual performative media show where everyone feels like they have to be ‘on’ was turned off. Barriers down. Less bullshit.

I hate bullshit.

There was plenty to talk about, too, and with a full array of speccy wines to match. I’ll post the notes from some of the more formal tastings of new vintage 2024 Semillon & 2023 Shiraz and a blind Chardonnay extravaganza in separate posts, but for today, I wanted to dive into a few of the new and not-so-new wines from this Hunter wine-flying visit.

Oh, and full disclosure – these are vibes about wines I was drinking, not writing notes…

Newness

Doing something different or starting your own thing in a two-hundred-year-old wine region isn’t straightforward. Not only is it a challenge to find grapes (good grower fruit from prime sites in the lower Hunter is jealously guarded), but the sheer weight of history weighs down on every move, complete with older winemakers nodding disapprovingly at wines outside the norm.

There’s nothing easy about it.

But then you try Aaron Mercer’s Mercer Wines Shiraz Nouveau 2023 and realise that mould bending is damned important. The winner of the ‘Silver Bullet’ Trophy (for the most innovative red wine) at last year’s Hunter Valley Wine Show, this bright, modern, juicy and light take on a Hunter Shiraz is something excellent. It’s not going to woo everyone, but its outsized drinkability is so welcome.

Aaron was on hand last week to talk about philosophy, in a way. The winner of the 2018 Hunter Valley Legends ‘Rising Star’ award is probably not ‘new’ generation anymore (don’t tell him that), but his wines (and his approach) are on point. Proudly preaching about the need to make wines to drink young and fresh, Mercer’s swag of organic, preservative-free wines and non-traditional flavours isn’t what you’d expect from someone with a cellar door on the prime real estate of Hermitage Road, Pokolbin.

You can’t argue with the sentiment. Making big reds and inaccessible whites that demand cellaring isn’t going to help sell more wine in 2024, especially not in the tourism mega-region of the Hunter Valley. The same old styles are great, but drinkers want more, and ignoring the light—to medium-bodied red wine phenomenon is just dumb.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel either. Emily Glover, winner of the 2023 ‘Young Achiever of the Year, also bounced into one of the dinners last week as well to make me feel old and unvibrant (yes, it’s a word, I’m running with it) with her Glover Wines Oakey Creek Semillon 2022 in tow. This tangy, textural Semllon uses the same fruit as Brokenwood’s famed Oaky Creek Semillon, but Emily goes for more palate weight via more work in the winery. The result isn’t quite as wild as, say, Ritchie Harkham’s full-tilt (and enjoyable) Harkham Wines Aziza’s Semillon, but it is provocative, as is the occasionally unconventional Semillon styles from Matt Burton at Gundog or Angus Vinden at Vinden Estate.

Speaking of divergence on a theme, the lovely Kate Sturgess from Brokenwood also brought along the new Brokenwood Vegas Block Shiraz 2023. Vegas is effectively a younger vine block on the Graveyard Vineyard with a twist, as this plot also includes some co-planted Pinot Noir and Trebbiano, like the old old Hunter Valley vineyards would have been. This Shiraz includes a fair proportion of whole bunches, too, which is a sticking point for many Hunter winemakers who believe that stems are a) unnecessary and b) unwelcome. Even Brokenwood Chief Winemaker Stu Hordern is not on the Hunter whole bunch train (calling them ‘a distraction’), which makes this even more of an outlier. I liked the extra dark spice and mediumness of the Vegas Block, even though it had a bit of a glossy, Shiraz Viognier juicy fruity vibe.

There was also a Brokenwood Oakey Creek Chardonnay 2022 in Kate’s bag, and it was delicious. When I first started drinking wine as a dumb nineteen-year-old, the ‘buttery’ richness of the iconic Scarborough Yellow Label Chardonnay was what I thought fancy full-bodied white wines should taste like. These days, I’m less drawn to the opulence and oak tannin broadness of that style (and Yellow Label isn’t as opulent any more, for that matter), but there’s a part of my heart that will always enjoy the sunny Hunter Chardonnay highlights. This new Brokenwood wine isn’t fat and yellow, instead trading in ripe peach and oatmeal with a carefully coiffed palate of class and flavour. Interestingly, Oakey Creek is prime Semillon country on alluvial light-coloured soils, and there is comparatively little Chardonnay planted. There’s a sandy, Semillon-like line to this Brokenwood Chardonnay, however, which I loved seeing too – terroir is real.

Something older

Screwcaps (and improved winery cleanliness) have remade the Hunter Valley. No more TCA to ruin the Semillon’s age-worthiness. Zero sweaty saddle Brettanomyces to dog the Shiraz. Nope, modern Hunter wines are built to look great now and forever.

Brad Russ from Tulloch brought along a reminder of how far we’ve come via the Tulloch Private Bin Pokolbin Dry Red Shiraz 2009. Here, we have a fifteen-year-old Hunter Shiraz that tastes glossy and bright yet proudly earthen and aged. And it’s in a screwcap. What’s more, there’s this terracotta-edged red fruit and mid-weight richness that had me thinking about how the 1954 vintage of this same wine tasted. How good is that?

Meanwhile, Kate had dug around in the Brokenwood cellar to present what might have been the wine I most wanted a second glass – a Brokenwood F.S.W NV. This delicious old Fortified Sweet Wine (thought to date back to the late 80s) is a bitsa blend based on all sorts of old fortified wines from the Brokenwood cellar, including ‘mistelle’ style Verdelho from Cowra, fortified Hunter Semillon, and more. Hot damn it was tasty too (and not commercially available FWIW). Caramel chews, honey, orange rind, honey grilled nuts, butterscotch – the whole gamut of old sweet white fortified wine that has been kept in a barrel for eons (think Madeira or Australian white port). Incredibly complex, it’s so warming and honeyed and luscious that you just want to drink more on a rainy night in Pokolbin (or at least I did).

Lots more old things

Forgive me, as this next part is a bit hazy.

The quartet of Andrew ‘Thommo’ Thomas (Thomas Wines), Mike de Iuliis (De Iuliis Wines), Stu Hordern (Brokenwood Wines) and PJ Charteris (Charteris Wines) very kindly dug around in their cellars to provide wines for what proved to be a funny, great dinner at the reborn Circa 1876 restaurant at the Convent.

For anyone who hasn’t met some of this crew of friends (and top winemakers), this is the larrikin end of the Hunter (especially Thommo & Mike D) and just fun. All the laughter, in-jokes and self-deprecating views of their wines belies how serious (and competitive) this crew really is, with every one of them a winner of Hunter Valley Winemaker of the Year at least once (Thommo x 3 and Stu Hordern x 2).

The wines on the table didn’t disappoint either…

I’ve written before about how good the Thomas Wines Braemore Semillon 2013 is, and yet again this looked sublime. Thommo thinks this is one of his finest wines and hard to argue – it’s expressive, with rafts of toasty curd evocative flavour, like a Semillon tour de force. It’s a big wine, a powerhouse, even, but also refreshing in its custardy va green apple contrasts. Want the ultimate Hunter Sem experience? There it is. The Brokenwood ILR Semillon 2013 alongside by contrast seemed subdued, quieter, maybe more refined, classic, but unquestionably high quality in a warm year mode. By itself, you’d be praising the ILR, but that 2013 Braemore is an icon.

Chef Joey Ingram at Circa 1876 delivered up a Sem-friendly dish of fregola, mussels, leek and smoked caviar that I’d like to eat every day as well (please).

Speaking of legends, the Brokenwod Graveyard Shiraz 1998, in the next bracket, was another superstar. When I first started working in liquor retail 25-odd years ago, the ’98 Graveyard hit like a storm. Even in a vintage where every South Australian Shiraz seemed to be on hero mode, the Graveyard felt formidable, detailed, and proudly Hunter-y. I bought a bottle too, but emptied it years ago, which meant it felt even more pleasurable to have some in my glass again. It doesn’t look 27 years old – sure, there’s some leather and red dirt, and it’s now savoury rather than the rather bold thing it was back in the day, but it’s still powerful, and it doesn’t taste old, just right. A modern champion, with a decade ahead no probs. After the Graveyard, I thought the crumbly-corked Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Shiraz 1996 & Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Shiraz 1995 pair just looked old, all leather and earth with plenty of old red earth charm but a bit creaky at the edges. Graveyard was the winner here by a margin.

Cork was a big influencer for this trio too, with the Brokenwood Mistress Block Shiraz 2005 on another plane of vitality arguably because it was sealed with a screwcap. The Thomas Wines Kiss Shiraz 2005 remains one of Thommo’s best early-year Kiss releases, but it looked a bit blocky and chunky against the polished and less obvious Mistress Block. I stared at them side by side in the glass, and you’d think the Mistress was five years younger without giving up detail. Screwcaps rule, ok? The Brokenwood Shiraz 2000 may seem like an odd wine out for this trio, but it’s effectively a declassified Graveyard and one of the first of the Brokenwood Shiraz from recent decades to be all Hunter Valley fruit (rather than including McLaren Vale et al. grapes). It was overshadowed by the younger, bolder wines next to it, but man, this charming Hunter Valley Shiraz was still in such rude shape for an inexpensive wine. We’ll call this a win to Mistress, however.

Meanwhile, chef Joey managed to snaffle a few NSW truffles to have with the next dish, with the wildly dense black truffles from Black Rock Truffles in New England adding an extra fragrance to the beef cheek, caramelised cauliflower and red wine butter. Earthen old Hunter reds are a wonderful match to truffles too. Joey foolishly let us free-shave the truffles, and I ended up with a small mound on my plate…

From here, I’m a tiny bit blurry on how the wines in this final trio looked because they all just seemed so young and brash. There’s plenty of enthusiasm for both 2018 and 2019 (warm, dry vintages) reds in the Hunter, so definitely worth a relook. The De Iuliis Limited Release Shiraz 2019 was memorably plusher and juicier, and I seem to recall it being a pretty tense battle for supremacy between the Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz 2018 & the Thomas Wines Kiss Shiraz 2018. Let’s go again!

To finish off this dive back into the past, a final curio – this Elliott’s Tallawanta Shiraz 1971 was an auction purchase that Mike D picked up more because he wanted to outbid Iain Riggs. From an infamously hard and wet vintage in the Hunter, this has some sweet leathery and very meaty horsey aromatics (moo) and then a palate that fell away so quickly. It didn’t smell that bad really, but not much going through the finish. After about 15 minutes in the glass, it fell apart, too, so drink up…