It's a tiny block, nothing flash, situated down near the road alongside the entry to Mount Pleasant winery in Pokolbin. There are no sweeping views, no sexy contours that grape vines can sometimes provide.
On appearance, it's bog standard. On variety too, it's marginal - pinot noir, a cool climate-loving variety that really struggles in the heat of Hunter wine country.
To be blunt, on a scale of importance in the Hunter, pinot sits as far behind semillon and shiraz as the Knights sit behind the top four. Yep, that far.
Mount Pleasant only produces a couple of barrels of pinot - usually snapped up by its members - and even then, only in years when the weather allows. So how come this seemingly insignificant Pokolbin block is so important on both a national and global scale?
In a word, history. And on two fronts.
Firstly, there is every indication that those same vines constitute the oldest pinot vineyard anywhere in the world today.
And secondly, that it is the original planting of the MV6 Pinot clone - known as the Australian clone - which would overwhelmingly make it the mother vine of pinot noir in this country.
Imagine that. Arguably the most important pinot vineyard in Australia produces only a couple of barrels annually, if the weather's kind, and sits smack bang in the heart of shiraz country. It's heady stuff. Especially when Mount Pleasant is renowned for its outstanding, long-living semillons - they're still selling their 1984 vintage at the cellar door, for example - and shiraz. Their flagship Maurice O'Shea shiraz sells out every year for a mouth-watering $275.
In recent weeks Mount Pleasant viticulturist Nick Cooper, supported by winemaker Adrian Sparks, has been in contact with two groups on different sides of the globe in search of confirmation.
The first is the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI), based out of Adelaide, which is keen to investigate the MV6 clone link - and that's a big deal in wine circles.
The other is the Old Vine Conference based out of London - it's run by a group of Masters of Wine - that is predominantly concerned with documenting and acknowledging the oldest vine plantings from around the world.
"When I came to Mount Pleasant a few months ago the age of the vines was a major attraction and I wondered if there might become sort of old vine charter somewhere, something to acknowledge this history," Cooper says.
"We have vines here dating back to 1880, and the Pinot vineyard down front was planted in 1921. Then Adrian showed me this email printout from this Old Vine group inviting us to attend a conference.
"I got in contact and told them we had some incredibly old vines and we would be interested in joining their group.
"I sent them a report stating the vineyard was planted in 1921, making it 101 years old, and some photos of the vines.
"Anecdotally we've been told they know of no other older pinot vineyards," Cooper says, although it's still uncertain at this stage if further proof will be needed.
But what about Burgundy, the home of pinot?
"The old vines in Burgundy were wiped out by phylloxera and largely replanted after the Second World War," Sparks says.
"They don't have anything that's 101 years old."
The Old Vine Conference is a global organisation so Cooper was surprised to be asked to make a presentation at their upcoming Old Vine conference in London in October, but deferred.
"I asked if we could wait a year, which will hopefully allow us to prove that the MV6 clone originated in that same vineyard," Cooper says.
To prove the MV6 link, representatives of the AWRI will need to visit Mount Pleasant and take cuttings which they will then test - essentially breaking down the vines' DNA.
"There would no doubt be carbon dating occurring too, that would help support our claim as to the age of the vines," Cooper says.
"If we're right, somewhere in that vineyard is the original MV6 vine planting that was cut, propagated, and then spread right around Australia.
"Imagine being able to stand up at the Old Vine Conference and say we have the oldest pinot vineyard in the world and it's also the backbone of the Australian pinot noir industry. Wouldn't that be something?"
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