It’s hard to overstate the excitement over the 2014 Hunter Valley red wine vintage.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
I know, I know . . . we’ve heard it all before. It’s all marketing hype. Blah, blah.
Cynical?
Absolutely, but not without cause.
Wineries all over the world will talk up their vintage – it’s their livelihood, after all.
But the 2014 Hunter vintage is different . . . a thing of beauty . . . stellar.
Many of the reds are now just hitting the shelves or cellar door.
Others are still in barrel and will make their much anticipated appearance shortly.
But the early reviews by independent experts have been nothing short of stunning.
But I’ll come to those in a minute.
First, a quick anecdote.
I bumped into Jim Chatto, chief winemaker of McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant (one of the Hunter’s big gun wineries) a few months back.
How’s the vintage, I asked him?
I had no doubt he would talk it up as a few weeks earlier – just after harvest in fact – he had forwarded a tweet to the wider Hunter winemaking community saying: “You get one, maybe two of these vintages in your lifetime, make it count.”
So, was he still as optimistic about vintage 2014 a few weeks later?
“I made the best red wine I’ve ever made and I would think the best red wine I ever will make,” he said, matter of fact. “It will outlive me.”
For the record, Chatto is in his early 40s – that means the wine will have to live another 40 years at least. And he’s not one to shoot his mouth off.
He reckons they’re that good.
The wines he was referring to were McWilliam’s’s four single vineyard block range – from some of their oldest and most prized sites – the 1965 Vines, the 1946 Vines, the 1921 Vines and the 1880 Vines.
The critics seem to agree.
These days probably the most highly respected online wine review site is Winefront. Three top judges who call it how they see it. There isn’t a winemaker in the country who doesn’t know it.
Here’s the summation of the 1965 Vines, for example.
There is a lot of “over scoring” of Australian wine nowadays. Far too many wines score close to 100/100. The problem with such scores is that they leave little room to move, should a better wine come along. In the context of today’s scoring environment this 1965 Vines Shiraz should probably score close to 112/100.
They scored it 98.
They were referring specifically to his 1965 Vines shiraz, although its three stablemates were equally breathtaking, with scores of 97+ (1921 Vines), 96+ (1946 Vines) and 95 (1880 Vines).
But it’s not just McWilliam’s.
The much lauded Brokenwood Graveyard (at a none-too-shabby $250 a bottle) was named the Hunter’s top red for the vintage. If it’s good enough to beat these others, it must be a classic.
Tyrrell’s too are overjoyed at the quality of their flagship reds (I’ve tasted three and they are superb).
De Iulliis has produced a cracker, Gundog’s Matt Burton says it’s his best red to date, Andrew Thomas can’t wait 'til his reds hit the shelves, Pepper Tree are overjoyed ... .
Even the cautious Rod Kempe of Lake’s Folly says everything is in place for it to be a beauty.
Cellarbrations Morpeth owner Justin Shannon, who prides himself in his quality wines, says the winemakers he deals with are super excited.
“I’ve got the Gundog for sale and it’s a stunner, his best yet without a doubt,” he says.
“I’m hearing it’s the same right across the board.”