The Hunter Valley is one of Australia's oldest and most well-respected wine regions. The Hunter Valley Wine Show (HVWS) celebrates the innovative wines and their makers that come out of the region.
In August the HVWS marked its 50th birthday. These three wines were each awarded trophies at the most recent show – Brokenwood's 2022 Semillon received the Marshall Flannery Trophy, Gartelmann took home the top gong for Best Rosé, and Thomas Wines was awarded a gold medal for its Elenay Shiraz. Discover a taste of the Hunter Valley below.
Brokenwood 2022 Hunter Valley Semillon
Vibrant in colour with lots of luminous green tints. Lovely florals and lemongrass aromas. Mouth filling flavours of green apple and lemon pith balancing the zesty acid backbone. The flavours linger for quite some time, similar to the 2021. A classic Hunter Valley semillon.Winemaker Stuart Hordern says: The 2022 is a timeless Hunter Valley semillon to enjoy now or leave to age gracefully.
H. How does the Hunter Valley and its climate influence this wine?
SH. The season had many similarities to 2021 but was overall of a higher quality. La Niña once again made for a cool, wet season, albeit tempered by a consistent breeze, which kept the canopy dry and disease at bay. Pokolbin had reached its annual rainfall by the end of November, with it being the wettest November on record. We ended up receiving 956 millimetres for 2021. Thankfully the sun came out and we were able to pick all of our semillon in pristine condition. All of our semillon was in the winery in great condition by the end of January.
Harvesting was all done by hand. The fruit was crushed, chilled and pressed immediately. Neutral yeasts were used for the fermentation in stainless steel, before bottling in May. No oak or malolactic fermentation.
Best enjoyed: Chilled with Asian dishes, or seafood (especially freshly shucked oysters).
RRP $28 | Drink now and beyond | brokenwood.com.au
2022 Gartelmann Veronica Rosé
The 2022 Veronica Rosé is 100 per cent Hunter Valley shiraz, filled with abundant strawberry and cream characters. Subtle sweetness is offset with balanced acid, the wine fills the mouth while remaining dry and lively.Operations Manager Jimmy Smith says: The 2022 is is a drier style, with plenty of ripe fruit on the palate. A leaner, acid-driven wine with great length and a rich mouthfeel.
H. How does the Hunter Valley and its climate influence this wine?
JS. The Hunter’s warmer growing condition is naturally suited to create these lighter styles and shiraz loves our climate, so it's always our grape of choice for making rosé. We can consistently produce wines of intense flavours at lower alcohol levels.
We had some great fruit and took a minimal approach to the winemaking to really let the fruit express itself. Our only intention was to make a dry, refreshing style that is perfect for summer drinking.
Best enjoyed: Serve this wine chilled. Pair it with a wide range of dishes from crispy-skinned salmon to roast duck. It's also a great barbecue wine.
RRP $23 | Drink to 2025 | gartelmann.com.au
2019 Thomas Wines Elenay Shiraz
Deep bright purple colour with aromas of dark berries, exotic spices, and minerals. The palate is medium to full bodied and seductively textured from fine grained tannin and plush fruit. There’s a core of blackberry, mulberry and black cherry fruit with hints of vanilla bean, wood smoke, baking spice and mineral graphite adding complexity. A complex, long and layered wine. We have seen how the punchy oak folds into the fruit with time in the cellar, and this vintage will be no exception.Winemaker Andrew ‘Thommo’ Thomas says: I love that Elenay is unique among the shiraz in our offering. It's the ‘punchiest’ in deluxe oak expression and often a customer favourite.
H. How does the Hunter Valley and its climate influence this wine?
AT. The Hunter is at the limit of climatic conditions for quality grape growing, and can be heavily influenced by weather and climate – it is an exciting place to be a vigneron. Our soils are ancient and generally the semillon is planted on the sandy alluvial patches, and the shiraz on the red and brown loams. These factors produce a textural yet mid-weight shiraz with elegance and fruit purity.
I pride myself and my team on a no-compromise, attention-to-detail approach to winemaking. I believe that 90 per cent of the quality lies in the vineyard, and the key to making great wine is 'keeping it simple' to preserve the quality from the vine through to the bottle.
Best enjoyed: Serve the 2019 at cellar temperature. Pair it with dishes such as ossobuco, peking duck, vegetarian moussaka, or a hard cheese (aged cheddar or Testun al Barolo).
RRP $55 | Drink to 2037 | thomaswines.com.au
Top image credit: Thomas Wines.
