The Hunter Valley’s new wave
The Young Gun winemakers bring fresh flavours to the region.
The Hunter Valley may be Australia’s oldest wine region, but in recent years, a wave of new and emerging winemakers, often referred to as the “young guns,” have been making their mark.
With busy full-time industry day jobs, these young winemakers are passionate about pushing boundaries whilst respecting the region’s rich heritage. Experimenting with lesser-known grape varieties, sustainable practices, and minimalist winemaking, this next generation are reshaping and injecting fresh energy into the wine landscape.
Aeon Wines
With a family name synonymous with Hunter Valley wine industry pioneers, 5th generation Alisdair Tulloch has wine literally running through his veins. For Alisdair and wife Kenisha, the creation of Aeon wines is about creating a pure expression of the vineyards, driven by their passion for sustainability.
Aeon wines are 100% Hunter Valley sourced and singularly focused on shiraz, “it’s where I have a depth of understanding and clarity of the style I like. The wines respect the character of our soils, which have been shaped and weathered over aeons”, said Alisdair.
Their 2023 Aeon Light Dry Red pays homage to the historical Hunter Valley blends of the 1950s and 60s of Shiraz and Pinot. Bright and silky this wine is fruit driven with raspberry, cherry and plum with fine tannins, perfect for summer drinking. The 2023 Aeon Vertosol is a different beast with intense brooding dark fruits, black pepper spice and some firm tannins which will benefit from age. The final wine is an interesting blend of Syrah, Touriga Nacional and Viognier.
According to Alisdair, “making wine is a crazy busy lifestyle and having our own brand just adds another level of craziness. But seeing our own wines bottles for the first time, was really special”.
Given the pedigree of Alisdair’s background, these wines are well made and no doubt will be successful.
Sabi-Wabi Wines
In 2019 while working for biodynamic Hunter winery Krinklewood, Peta Kotz launched Sabi-Wabi wines which draws inspiration from Japanese philosophy of ‘wabi-sabi’ – to find beauty amongst imperfection.
As a 3-time finalist in the Australian Young Guns of Wine Awards, she was thrilled to receive the 2022 Young Gun Winemaker’s Choice Award. Focused on reimagining regional Hunter traditions, Sabi-Wabi wines are minimal intervention, vibrant, small batch wines that highlight the quirks of nature.
Peta now has 6 core wines in her range albeit she admits, “it changes from season to season. My range is about seeing Hunter Valley wines from a wider lens than the traditional styles”.
The preservative-free Sabi Wabi Pet Nat is a naturally sparkling wine made from Semillon, with expressive flavours of tropical fruits, preserved lemon and almonds. The 2023 Hunnybee Semillon with 11 months on lees, has soft citrus and honeysuckle with a savoury textural body. The 2023 Nobu is a juicy, light, bright “rose-like” shiraz, with raspberry jubes and is delicious served chilled.
Whilst Peta’s wines certainly push the boundaries of tradition, they are well made and will attract explorers and a new generation of wine drinkers.
Gunpowder Wines
The name Gunpowder Wines comes from a foiled plot in 1605 to blow up the Houses of Parliament and monarchy, where Guy Fawkes was discovered amongst twenty old wine barrels filled with explosive gunpowder.
The passion project of Harrison Medley, who is clearly a lover of a good story, Harrison’s own ideology is to use wine barrels for good… to ignite your taste buds. With a range of 5 wines, these are crowd pleasing styles. The newly released 2024 Fiano is floral with just-cut grass, stone fruits and citrus with a lip-smacking acidity. This is a sassy delicious wine.
The 2023 Chardonnay is a gorgeous drop with white blossom and vanilla, peach, almond biscotti and a creamy finish. There are 3 reds in the range including a classic Hunter Shiraz, a full bodied Mudgee Shiraz and a soft juicy Shiraz Nouveau for summer Bbqs.
With a day job as Assistant Winemaker at Binet Family Wines, Harrison has been grateful for the support of his mentors and surprised by the brand’s success. “I won a gold medal for the first release of the Chardonnay and a medal for every wine I’ve made, so I’d say it’s going ok”, he reflects modestly.
Gunpowder wines are available for tasting at Ben Ean cellar door and also online.
Read about more Young Guns in our Summer Edition of Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle Magazine or subscribe here.
Story by Cathy Gadd
