MICHAEL Broadbent, UK chief of Christie's wine auctions, once complained that on being unmasked as a wine writer at functions he was besieged by people who expected him to tell them "the size of the boots of the man who pressed the grapes".
Now, at the age of 90, with 70 years in journalism and 47 years writing weekly wine columns, I'll avoid boot sizes but answer some of the questions I'm posed.
The best wine of the 25,000 or so I've reviewed? My answer is the Penfolds 1971 Grange which enchanted me at the two-day 1994 tasting of every Grange from 1951 to 1990 staged in Sydney and his Lake Macquarie Gwandalan mansion by former Swedish jazz trumpeter, car racing champion and textile millionaire and then rare wines merchant Anders Josephson.
The current-release Grange, the 2019, sells for $990 in bottle shops and on penfolds.com.au and it and the $950 Henschke Hill of Grace are widely deemed top of our reds hierarchy. I consider, however, the Hunter's Brokenwood Hunter Graveyard shiraz their equal and joins them with the highest category - Exceptional - in Langton's auction house's Classification of Australian Wine.
I've tasted every Graveyard made since the 1986 and the vintage I rate champion red and shiraz is the 2018, which Halliday's Wine Companion judged the 2021 Wine of the Year.
The current-release 2021 got 98 2024 Wine Companion points and sells for $350 at brokenwood.com.au and Pokolbin winery.
My best white and semillon is the scrumptious Tyrrell's 2013 Vat 1 Semillon, which has been withheld until the 200th anniversary of Hunter wine in 2028. The current-release Vat 1 is the excellent $115 2017 at Tyrrell's Broke Road, Pokolbin, winery, tyrrells.com.au and fine wine stores.
My best cabernet sauvignon is the Yarra Yering 2019 Yarra Valley Carrodus Cabernet Sauvignon, which with the 2018 and 2021 is $275 a bottle at yarrayering.com and the Gruyere winery. All were made by Yarra Yering winemaker-general manager Sarah Crowe, who is Sydney Wine Show chair of judges and developed her exceptional wine skills over 11 years working in Hunter wineries.
Keith and Clare Mugford's Moss Wood cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay wines are my long-time favourites and the then-$80 Moss Wood 2019 Wilyabrup Chardonnay is my champion. The current-release is the 2022 selling for $100 at mosswood.com.au, the Metricup Road, Wilyabrup, winery and fine wine stores.
I GUESS, from my 24 years of regular contact with Murray Tyrrell, he would have been much displeased to be called a goat.
But I believe he is a GOAT, Hunter wine's Greatest of All Time.
He was a grand innovator, but he eschewed thermometers to test ferments with his elbow. He was a community leader, a Pokolbin bush fire brigade captain and a mentor to scores of emerging young wine careerists.
Aged 37 in 1959 he took over the family wine business founded in 1858 - taking it to national and international heights.
Thanks to Murray in 1971 Tyrrell's produced Australia's first commercially bottled and labelled chardonnay and ignited a national chardonnay boom.
It came after Murray wanted to make chardonnay in the 1960s when the French white burgundies he loved became too dear. One of two small chardonnay plots was on the then-Penfolds-owned HVD (Hunter Valley Distillery) vineyard.
Penfolds wouldn't help, but on a 1967 moonlit night Murray climbed the HVD fence to filch some due-to-be-burnt vine cuttings. From these he planted vines on Short Flat vineyard, producing grapes that made the first Vat 47.
Ever a pioneer, Murray planted the great Burgundian pinot noir variety in 1969 and made his first Vat 6 in 1972. In 1979 the 1976 Vat 6 caused an international sensation when it was judged the world's best pinot noir in France's 1979 Gault-Millau Wine Olympics.
On Murray's 2000 death his son Bruce took Tyrrell's leadership and, with a magnificent array of 10-year-old Sacred Site vineyards, the Tyrrell team of Bruce, son CEO Chris, winemakers Andrew Spinaze and Mark Richardson and group vineyard manager Andrew Pengilly create wines that dominate wine show prize lists.
Standing with Murray Tyrrell in my honour roll of grand wine accomplishment are Iain Riggs, Brian and Neil McGuigan, Phil Ryan, Karl Stockhausen, Max Lake and, with no gender considerations but on sheer professional ability, Liz Silkman, Liz Riley, Kat Barry, Samantha Connew and Sarah Crowe.
Finally a special tribute to Len Evans, a great friend of the Hunter Valley who made his home here in retirement. He was the conscience of Hunter wine, full of creativity, humour, generosity, good fellowship and in his 28 years heading Rothbury Estate he oversaw a dazzling array of events.
And, as I bid farewell to this column, here is a lovely toast borrowed from Rothbury's master chef Peter Meier:
Here's to the happiest years of my life
Spent in the arms of another man's wife
Here's to my mother!
WINE REVIEWS
HUNTER CLASSIC FOND FAREWELL
PRICE: $50
FOOD MATCH: a paella
AGEING: eight years
RATING: 5.5 STARS
AS MY fond farewell dear readers here are three terrific Hunter classics. This much-trophied McGuigan 2014 Bin 9000 Semillon is green-tinted straw and has lemongrass scents and delightful ruby grapefruit front-palate flavour. The middle palate shows pear, lemon curd, mineral and honey and toast elements and a finish of refreshing slatey acid. At mcguiganwines.com.au and the Pokolbin winery.
GRAVEYARD'S GOOD NEARBY
PRICE: $100
FOOD MATCH: Steak Diane
AGEING: 12 years
RATING: 5.5 STARS
FROM a vineyard managed by Brokenwood across the road from the famed Graveyard vines, the Brokenwood 2021 Verona Vineyard Shiraz has 13% alcohol, bright garnet hues, potpourri aromas and savoury blackcurrant front-palate flavour. The middle palate shows Satsuma plum, bramble jelly, spice and mocha oak and the finish minty tannins. At brokenwood.com.au and the McDonalds Road, Pokolbin, winery.
TROPHY WIN CHARDONNAY
PRICE: $60
FOOD MATCH: seared scallops
AGEING: nine years
RATING: 5.5 STARS
THE Silkman 2022 Reserve Chardonnay recently won 2023 Sydney Wine Show's best small producer trophy and shines bright lemon in the glass and has ginger blossom and crushed almond scents. The front palate displays vibrant golden peach flavour, the middle palate fig, melon, nutmeg and cashew oak and the finish flinty acid. At silkmanwines.com.au and Hunter Wine House, McDonalds Road, Pokolbin.
