2018 | Tyrrell's | Hunter Valley Shiraz

Vibrant purple color, with a lifted nose showing red fruits and some spice. The palate has wonderful concentration and depth yet still lively and fresh. The tannins are expansive yet remain soft and the acidity adds to the wines complexity.

Reviews:

• Wine Enthusiast: This Shiraz was open-top fermented and matured in older, large-format French oak casks, resulting in a wine focused on fruit purity. With some air, the plump blueberries and currants are underpinned by flowers, spice, hoisin and warm stone nuances. The palate is unexpectedly powerful, with chiseled, slightly drying tannins, although it still resides in medium-bodied territory. It shows off the distinctive style of the region as well as the winery.

Producer Information

Tyrrell's Wines is a leading Australian producer based for more than 160 years in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. It also has vineyards in Heathcote in Victoria. Unusually for a well-established Australian producer, it is best known for its Semillon and Chardonnay white wines. However it does make award-winning reds, particularly from Shiraz, and is also known as a pioneer of Pinot Noir in the country. Figures such as Dan Tyrrell (who oversaw 69 vintages until his death in 1959) and the larger-than-life Murray Tyrrell are some of the most important figures in the Australian wine industry. Current winemaker Chris Tyrrell represents the fifth generation; his oldest vines were planted by his great-great-grandfather. Tyrrell's was also among the founding members of Australia's First Families of Wine. This is an organization that helps to build awareness of premium Australian wines and their heritage. Murray Tyrrell was a champion of white wines in the Hunter Valley, and particularly Semillon – this was apparently at least partly driven by his giving up smoking in 1970, which was said to have enhanced his tasting abilities with white wines but deadened his palate for reds. The company's traditional standard bearer is its Vat 1 Semillon. It is Australia's most award-winning white wine, with an impressive tally of nearly 5500 medals and over 330 trophies. The wine was first made in old oak in 1963, but since 1990 has been the archetype of the Hunter Valley style – fermented, settled, and blended in stainless steel before spending a couple of years aging in bottle. Murray Tyrrell regarded this as a wine for immediate release, but his son Bruce established the ageworthy credentials of the wine by hiding 1000 cases of the 1989 vintage from his father in a corner of a warehouse and releasing them in 1996. Tyrrell's has also gained worldwide acclaim for the Vat 47 Chardonnay, an early Australian attempt to use Burgundian methods, including new oak. It was initially regarded with dismay, gaining a mark of 6 out of 20 at the Brisbane Wine Show, before going on to be one of the company's most famous wines. In addition, the Vat 6 Pinot Noir famously won best in show at the 1979 Wine Olympiad in Paris. The practice of using "vat-numbered" labels started in 1961 to denote single-vineyard wines, though it now includes multi-site blends. The Tyrrell's Hunter Valley estate has 11 vineyards with vines that are more than 100 years old, which are used to make the Sacred Sites range. One of these releases, Old Patch Shiraz, was awarded a 100-point score by critic James Suckling for four consecutive vintages; 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019 (none was made in '15 and '16). Furthermore, the HVD vineyard, planted in 1908, is believed to be the the world's oldest Chardonnay plot. In all, the company owns eight of the 11 oldest vineyards in New South Wales. In all, Tyrrell's now has 111 hectares (274 acres) in the Hunter Valley planted to Shiraz, Chardonnay, Semillon and Pinot Noir. In Heathcote there are a further 26ha (65 acres) of Shiraz. Most of the company's top wines from outside the Hunter Valley are produced under the Rufus Stone label. This name refers to the death of King William II of England (William Rufus) who was allegedly killed in 1100 by an arrow fired by Sir Walter Tyrrell, an ancestor of the family. The Tyrrell's company history does not quite go back that far, but started when Edward Tyrrell moved from England in 1854, buying land in the Hunter Valley and founding the business four years later. Wine production commenced with the 1864 vintage, and the company is still family-owned.

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