It’s perhaps unusual for a Victorian to list the Hunter Valley as a favourite wine region, but I am one of those Victorians, and proudly so. Asking myself why this is the case, I inevitably end up thinking the obverse: how could I not love Hunter wine? For ever since Dan Murphy poured out the 1965 and 1966 reds from Tyrrell’s and Tulloch for me and the rest of his team at the Chapel St store in Prahran sometime back in 1981, I’ve been a convert.
Why? When the Hunter gets it right with shiraz and semillon, the results are as unique and specific as they are astonishing. It doesn’t happen every year, but that only serves to make the special vintages even more significant, for the outcomes – especially with bottle age – are often world class.
The finest Hunter shiraz is deeply perfumed, medium to fullish in weight, textural and savoury. This means that you’re more likely to appreciate it and seek it out once you’ve been around the wine block once or twice. Most of us initially fall for the intensity, richness and power of the typical South Australian model when first deciding we like red wine. Ripeness and purity, often handsomely oaked and with a mellow, velvety core are easy to understand and appreciate.
Typically, as people experience more wine and their palate develops, they tend to prefer more elegance, balance and texture over sheer fruit intensity. If we’re drinking more dominant, assertive wine, we need it to show at least a suggestion of style or gentrification. Gravitating towards reds that are more medium in body, but we wish them to be perfumed, fragrant and interesting, with a genuine structure and a savoury finish. And this is where Hunter shiraz steps right in.
Similarly, as we develop our experience in wine, we often find ourselves preferring whites that are fresh and vital in their youth, but which become alluring, complex and more intriguing once mature. And there is nothing on earth quite like a mature Hunter semillon from a great site and a classic vintage. It’s perhaps Australia’s greatest and only genuinely unique white table wine, beginning life as an early-harvested low-alcohol and unoaked white wine of leanness and focus, but evolving into a multi-dimensional, powerfully aromatic and richly flavoured wine whose closest parallel on earth would be a great, mature white Burgundy.
Again, the region’s historically erratic seasonality prevents it from delivering the frequency of classic vintages found in other regions, so don’t get the impression that all Hunter vintages have this magical ability. And time has shown – which is reflected in the region’s comparatively small area under vine – that in the Hunter it’s more about the site than in most of the wine world.
So it should be obvious that the world will never, ever be over-run with classic Hunter wine – making what it does produce all the more special. And it’s given me a host of unforgettable wine memories.
On my Roseworthy College tour in 1984 we checked in for a tasting at Lindemans in Sydney hosted by Phillip John, whose purpose was to demonstrate the exceptional ageworthiness of Hunter semillon. Guesstimating the age of each wine – and we went back into the 1960s – I was consistently about 60% short. And none of them was even close to maturity. Most of the older wines were made by a modest genius I later came to know well – Karl Stockhausen. A national treasure.
Karl was also the maker of the truly astonishing 1965 Lindemans Bin 3110 Hunter River Burgundy opened by Anders Josephson over a lunch we shared when it was over 30 years old. I still remember it vividly. As great as the greatest of Rhône Valley reds. A wine of a lifetime.
Over the years I’ve also been blessed to have tasted several of the classic, pioneering wines made by Maurice O’Shea under the Mount Pleasant label. Some were indeed multi-regional in origin; some pure Hunter when no blending support was needed. Great memories, although in some cases the wines were nearing the end of their terms.
Then, back working at Dan Murphy’s while I was studying agricultural science, I’d eagerly anticipate the latest arrivals from Murray Robson who, despite coming late into wine production, had an extraordinary flair for quality. Style, in Murray’s case, was a given. These wines have since aged superbly.
Propped into the middle of this is of course Lake’s Folly, established by the well-known Sydney hand surgeon Dr Max Lake in a way that took the notion of ‘a little help from his friends’ to another level entirely. Having selected one of the finest pieces of viticultural land in Australia – let alone the Hunter itself – Lake focused on two wines: a cabernet-based blend and a chardonnay. While some of the earlier releases revealed undeniable quality, they are nothing by comparison to what Rod Kempe has delivered during his remarkable tenure at the property. There’s an exception to every rule in wine, and this is the Hunter’s exception. I also wonder how Max Lake would react to the undeniably superb shiraz now produced from recent plantings on the site.
I’ve experienced plenty of old Tyrrell’s – often introduced with equal parts of ebullience and economy by Murray Tyrrell. In more recent years some astonishing verticals of the Vat 1 Semillon and Vat 47 Chardonnay. Years back I had several opportunities to attend Rothbury Ribbon Dinners at the Estate, hosted of course with incomparable style and wit by the master showman and passionate Hunter adoptee, Len Evans. Vertical tastings at Brokenwood have confirmed for me the longevity and purity of traditional regional Hunter shiraz and semillon.
More recently I’ve watched with delight the arrival and establishment of ‘new’ labels like those of Andrew Thomas. His Thomas Wines brand has helped refocus the region towards its true purpose in wine, in doing so returning the identity and mojo it had lost through the 1980s and 1990s as too many of its makers tried to compete against South Australia and its more fleshy, ripe and powerful wines. Thommo’s influence is also seen through the quality and regional integrity of the many small brands whose wines have been made by him under contract. Other ‘relatively’ recent brands like de Iuliis, Margan, Briar Ridge Meerea Park, Scarborough and Mistletoe have focused on the delivery of classic regional expressions of both shiraz and semillon.
And now, continuing the cyclical nature of things, is the return to iconic status of the Mount Pleasant brand under the guidance of Adrian Sparks, who has continued and expanded its revival as initiated by Jim Chatto. The current collection of Mount Pleasant wines is nothing short of astonishing – delivering a sense of style and place that would knock the socks off anyone with an understanding of world wine and how quality has traditionally been defined.
Which brings me right back to where I began. I’m still the kid in the sweetshop when it comes to tasting and reviewing the modern Hunter classics, which certainly still take their cues from the great wines of the past. Sure, winemakers might have different-looking equipment and more technology at their disposal, but their object remains to treat the fruit from the region’s great sites with the same care and respect as the makers who forged the region’s reputation in the first place.
It’s a joy that their efforts are so deeply connected to the great wines of the past.
While Oliver’s Wines is still in its startup phase, it’s difficult for us to carry as many Hunter wines in our Shop as I’d like. My ambition, however, is to build more awareness of this region and its treasures outside its home market of Sydney, and to acquaint more enthusiasts with an essential piece of the jigsaw that is Australian wine.
Please click here to see our carefully curated range of Hunter Valley wines.
