Wine news
National Young Guns of Wine
2024 marks the 18th year of the national Young Gun Wine Awards. These awards scour the country for the best emerging winemaking talent who are reshaping the wine landscape with their bold vision. The 2024 top 50 finalists were drawn from a long list of entrants and assessed over two days of intensive judging by a leading industry panel from across the country.
With 6 nominees from NSW, it’s exciting to have half of these from the Hunter Valley.
Andrew Ling has been the Senior Winemaker at Carillion Wines since 2017, after a career spanning roles with leading wineries across Mudgee, Orange and The Hunter Valley. In 2021 Andrew launched his own wine brand, Agitate Wines, which embrace minimal intervention. With 5 wines in the range, Andrew said, “my wines are raw and textural, I bottle them in their youth to capture freshness”.
Megan and James Becker of MJ Becker Wines, uniquely make wines across two continents. Whilst the Hunter Valley is home, James started his winemaking career in California. When the couple launched their own range in 2015, they included a chardonnay and pinot that James makes annually in California, as well as wines from the Hunter and other NSW regions.
Peta Kotz is no stranger to the awards after taking out the Young Gun Winemakers Choice Award in 2022. Launched in 2019, her Sabi Wabi wines are unapologetically lo-fi with no subtraction or additions. Hunter Valley born and bred, Peta is proud of the rich history and tradition of the region, but she’s also committed to showing the Hunter Valley in a new light, with a more textured and fun style.
Congratulations and good luck to our three local finalists.
Ben Ean launches new wine range
The famous historical Ben Ean distillery, affectionately known as “The Still House”, was built in 1907 and operated until 1963, producing Brandy Spirit for fortified wine. Its heritage has been celebrated in the new Stillhouse wine range.
Ben Ean Cellar Door Manager Michael Patridge explained, “it’s been over 6 years in the making, but we wanted to produce a range to showcase the quality of some of the Hunter’s oldest vineyards, here at Ben Ean. Our aim is to honour the past but make the wines with personality in a modern approachable way, yet distinctive to their site”.
The Stillhouse range includes the 2023 Semillon crafted from vines over 50 years old. It’s floral, limey and juicy with soft acidity. The museum 2009 Semillon from an excellent vintage, shows beautiful maturity with lanolin, Meyer lemon curd and honey on toast.
The 2023 Arneis sourced from the Peterson’s family vineyard in Mudgee, seeks to embrace alternate varieties of the future. Perfumed with white flowers, nashi pear and a layered textured palate, it’s delicious.
The 2023 Chardonnay is elegant with peach, grapefruit pith, cashews and crushed biscuits. Rounding out the range is a tasty 2022 Tempranillo from the oldest Tempranillo planting in the Hunter Valley and the 2021 Shiraz is classic “Hunter Valley Burgundy in style”. Medium bodied with raspberry, boysenberry, pepper spice and supple tannins, it’s a compelling wine.
The Stillhouse wines are priced $25-$48 and available online, at the cellar door, or by the glass at their onsite restaurant Baume. And, for a special experience dripping in history, why not book your tasting in the old Stillhouse.
Silkman nominated for Halliday’s top gongs
Local favourite Silkman Wines is one of only six Australian wineries contending for the prestigious title of Winery of the Year by the world-renowned Halliday Wine Companion, for its 2025 edition.
Adding to the excitement, Liz Silkman was also shortlisted for Winemaker of the Year, an equally prestigious title. Liz is the only winemaker in the Hunter Valley to make the shortlist. The awards are announced in Melbourne on the eve of the Companion’s release on August 8, 2024.
Liz and her husband Shaun, both born and bred in the Hunter Valley, started Silkman Wines as a side hustle in 2013. They both work full-time at the family wine business, First Creek Wines, where Liz is Chief Winemaker and Shaun is Chief Operating Officer. Together, they produce some of the region’s most awarded wines and oversee the production and bottling of over a million cases. In just a few short years, they have realised their vision for Silkman Wines: creating small-batch, contemporary versions of traditional Hunter Valley varieties.
Silkman makes two wine ranges, Reserve and Estate, producing limited volumes of eight wines in their portfolio, including Semillon, Chardonnay, Shiraz, and Shiraz Pinot.
“We make only tiny parcels of wine from the very best Hunter fruit we can get our hands on and are entirely focused on making the absolute best wines that we can,” says Shaun Silkman.
2024 Hunter Vintage Report
By all accounts, the 2024 Hunter Valley Vintage was an extraordinary vintage. Off to an early start at the beginning of January, it had all but finished before the cooler previous 2023 vintage had even started. According to Bryan Currie, Winemaker Hungerford Hill, “we picked our Cabernet in January and that has never happened before, but when the fruit is ripe, we need to pick it.”
Bryan said, “it was a dry winter and we had to irrigate, then a later start to spring. It was a surprisingly wet spring, but thankfully the rain stopped at the right time with dry conditions in the lead up to January and we didn’t have any disease pressure.”
The previous cooler 2023 vintage meant fewer buds set, resulting in less grapes in 2024. “The yields were down around 30% but we’re happy that the quality is high across the board”, Bryan explained. The 2024 whites with good colour, natural acidity and flavour are expected to be age worthy. Likewise, Bryan is enthusiastic about the red wines, “we focus on shiraz and despite being a compressed season, the 2024’s have good fruit and concentration.
According to Bryan the Portuguese variety they grow called Touriga Nacional, is the best they have made and he’s excited about working with their new Mataro variety for the first time. As a chardonnay fan, his pick of the 2024 wines is their Hungerford Hill Chardonnay. “It’s generous with a lovely ripeness and a richness which is how I like my chardonnay”, he commented.
When pressed, Bryan has given the 2024 vintage an impressive 8 out of 10. Sounds like time to stock up with Hunter Valley wines!
A Little Wine is Good
Established by husband-and-wife winemaking duo Ian and Suzanne Little, The Little Wine Company, has over 20 years of history in the Hunter Valley. Until now, they have operated under the portfolio of boutique Hunter Valley brands, available at the Pokolbin based Winehouse.
Little Wine Company have now opened their own stand-alone Cellar Door nestled in the historic village of Broke. “The Broke-Fordwich region has been our home for nearly 30 years; it’s where our kids were born and raised, it’s where we built our winery and it’s where the majority of our grapes are grown, so it just feels right”, said Suzanne.
Little Wine Company have pioneered emerging alternate grape varieties and as Suzanne explained, “it’s been an evolution over 15 years, but we’ve found the Italian and Spanish varieties really suit our region”.
There is plenty to explore in the comprehensive range of alternate varieties. The white wines include a fresh and zippy Albarino, a more floral and textured Vermentino and a zesty Pinot Grigio. Their Pecorino comes from some of the first planting in Australia and tastes of red delicious apples with a tangy clean finish, whilst the premium Little Gem version, is aromatic with pear notes and a more complex savoury mouthfeel.
In the red wines, Sangiovese is one of their favourite varieties and they have crafted 2 delicious versions. Plus, they offer a smooth dark fruited Barbera, a very approachable and moreish Tempranillo and of course classic elegant Hunter Shiraz.
Nestled at the foot of the Brokenback mountains, the cellar door is a cosy nook next to local favourite, Magoony’s Coffee House. With indoor and outdoor seating, you can taste a “Little”wine whilst soaking up the rural charm and serenity.
Little Wine Company Cellar Door is open for tasting Thursday to Monday 10am to 5pm.
New kids on the block
Traditionally, the best wine growing regions in the world are located between the 30th and 50th parallel of the hemisphere. The Hunter Valley lies on Latitude 32, hence the name for the new winery owned by Emma and David White.
As corporate professionals, Emma and David had long dreamed of a different life. In 2019 they purchased a 50 acre old vine vineyard in Pokolbin. With bushfires, covid and wet vintage conditions Emma admitted, “it’s been a massive learning curve, but thankfully there have been more highs than lows”, she mused.
Emma turned their side-hustle into a full-time job and last October the couple doubled down, buying 20 acres previously known as Mistletoe Wines. After renovating the on-site property, they have just opened their new Cellar Door. With an industrial country charm and a bright fresh feel, the spacious cellar door is adorned with large pieces of modern art and plenty of seating choices.
Emma explained, “whilst we’ve brought back some heritage blends, our wines are a modern interpretation to showcase the fruit. They offer a classic single vineyard semillon, a tasty blend of semillon and chardonnay and two elegant single vineyard chardonnays. Emma commented, “chardonnay is a personal passion, so I’ve experimented with different uses of oak in the wines”.
They use their estate grown grapes for their range of reds. The unique Hunter heritage blend of Shiraz and Pinot is honoured in their super delicious 2023 “The Bros” blend. The limited-edition Pinot is made only in the best vintage years and the shiraz from the Vanessa Vale vineyard is crafted both in a drink now style and a more complex wine with cellaring potential.
The Cellar door is open Friday – Sunday and tastings start from $15 with light snacks available.
Discover more in the Winter Edition of Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle Magazine or subscribe here.
Written by Cathy Gadd.
