One of the fastest and earliest Hunter harvests in living memory will prove even more impressive than the 'sensational' vintage of 2023.
Mount Pleasant winemaker Adrian Sparks, whose harvest will be finished as early as Saturday, said some of the Hunter Valley's signature Semillon has already finished fermenting and will soon be ready for bottling, sped along by a drier and warmer season.
"It's amazing considering we didn't start picking until the second or third week of February last year," he said on Tuesday. "It's the earliest I have ever seen."
Mr Sparks brought in the year's takings as the fruit ripened between 10.5 and 11 on the Baume scale - a metric that measures the amount of sugar in the grape juice and fermenting wine (at that level, around 189 to 198 grams of sugar per litre) and roughly equates to the percentage of alcohol by volume.
The relatively low sugar level at harvest is characteristic of the Hunter's Semillon, which is bottled with an almost water-white colour and crisp, citrusy flavours that ages to a deep gold, developing nutty and sweeter honey notes.
Maurice O'Shea, widely considered the founding father of modern Australian winemaking, planted some of the first Semillon vines in the Hunter on Mount Pleasant's historic Lovedale plot in 1946, which have since produced exceptional examples of Hunter's unique take on the varietal.
Mr Sparks said this year's vintage will likely be discussed in the same breath as the Hunter's most outstanding years.
"2013 was a great vintage," he said, "But it was overshadowed by 2014, and I think we might see the same thing again; the hype of 2024 will overpower the magnificence of 2023.
"It's two great years in a row."
Nevertheless, about 100 kilograms of the Mount Pleasant harvest won't be bound for the wine bottle, but the rocks glass instead, as noted Newcastle bartender Dave Watkins has developed a classically-inspired cocktail recipe combining Mr Sparks' freshly crushed grape juice with Earp's No. 8 gin for a limited run on QT Rooftop bar menu.
The recipe for the '2024 Lovedale Smash' was still in the works almost up to the point where Watkins placed the first one on the bar at an impromptu tasting event at the top of the QT building on Hunter Street Tuesday morning. Originally planned as a spritz with Earp's navy strength Portside gin, Watkins, the Rooftop's venue manager formerly from Coal & Cedar, said the Portside's bold flavours and hotter alcohol profile clashed with the unique flavour of the fresh grape juice. The spritz was out, the gin was cooled down to the more mellow and popular No. 8, and the inventive play on the stripped-back classic was born.
The 'smash' is one of the oldest styles of cocktail, dating at least as far back as cocktail culture's seminal text, Jerry Thomas' 1862 book How to Mix Drinks, and calls for a simple concoction of spirit, sugar and fruit. The 'Lovedale' combined 90 millilitres of Mr Sparks grape juice with 30 of the locally-distilled gin, freshened with lime and a dash of sugar.
Earp Distillery's venue manager, Mitch Luke, said the distillers developed around 200 variations on a recipe containing the same eight botanicals when they made their award-winning gin but eventually circled back to the serendipitously named "No. 8" containing juniper, coriander, angelica root, cardamon, apple, raspberry, chamomile and cinnamon.
"That's delicious," Mr Luke said of Mr Watkin's concoction, served on the rocks with a soft and cloudy-green hue, "I think the sweetness and the slight acidity of the grape juice lends itself to the spicy undertone of the gin."
The sessional summer sipper is expected for an exclusive run at the Hunter Street bar and Earp's bar at Carrington for around a month, or at least for as long as the grape juice holds out.
Earp's foray into darker spirits in 2021 with the release of their curated cask rum and brandy, as well as 'Reggie's Rum' aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in sherry casks, is set to take its next step later this year as they prepare for the release of their first whiskey.
"Fingers crossed there will be some sort of release this year," Mr Luke said.
"We have some smoked red gum spirit, from wheat- to corn-based, some rye; there's everything under the sun, but we just have to see what comes out when it's ready."
