Singularly stimulating: Individual vineyards can provide a wonderful taste test

 

The French word terroir is packed full of more meaning than you could imagine being contained in just seven letters. It conveys messages of unique qualities provided by a particular patch of soil and is frequently applied to vineyards to suggest what makes the product of that vineyard different from others.

While the Australian wine industry thrives on blends, particularly when it comes to larger-scale commercial labels, there are plenty of small patches that receive attention from consumers.

Henschke’s Hill of Grace, for example, is a wine derived from one vineyard and one variety and it is possibly the most sought-after Australian wine outside of Penfold’s Grange.

Smaller wineries, just because of their size, tend to produce more single vineyard wines but there are some bigger wineries that favour this approach too.

Tyrrell's NVC vineyard, first planted in 1921

The Tyrrell family of the Hunter Valley definitely like to explore this ide3 and it is exemplified in the 2021 release of eight single vineyard wines.

Naturally, since we are talking about the Hunter, shiraz and Semillon feature heavily, with four shirazes, three semillons and a long chardonnay in the line-up.

The wines just released are 2015 HVD Semillon, 2015 Belford Semillon, 2016 Stevens Semillon, 2018 Belford Chardonnay, 2018 Stevens Shiraz, 2018 Mother’s Shiraz, 2018 Old Hut Shiraz and 2018 NVC Shiraz. The semillons are all about $40 and the others $50.

As a generalisation, the best Hunter semillons tend to come from old river beds and flats, with light, almost sandy, soil, while the top shiraz vines seem to thrive on richer, volcanic hillside blocks.

The 2018 vintage was an excellent one for shiraz and all these are lovely examples of the Hunter’s medium-bodied style, with fruit the driving character and oak playing a restrained supporting role. It’s fascinating to line them up and smell and taste the differences emanating from their vineyard sources and not winemaking artifice.

Similarly, the semillons show typical Hunter citrus and straw with some of the toast and honey characters of aged semillon just starting to emerge.

All up, it’s an intriguing look at the products of some of the Hunter Valley’s best vineyards and the wines are well worth seeking out.

You can find out more at www.tyrrells.com.au