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A delve into anything wine related in Australia, and you’ve entered into a mired respite of information to cantankerous to decipher in one sitting. The Hunter Valley is no exception. Recent history would point to the incredible Sémillon grown here, but this is of course simply the tip of the iceberg. The Hunter Valley, i.e, the high walls surrounding the bowl of tributaries linked to the Hunter river, is disputably the oldest wine growing area in all of Australia, and one of the oldest in the new world.
The latter eighteenth century wrought dramatic change in the world of viticulture. James Busby, now referred to as the godfather of viticulture in the penal colonies, collected over five-hundred samples of different vines from all over Europe. This trans-pacific escapade in search of viticultural booty includes the famed cuttings of Syrah from the hill in the Northern Rhône known as Hermitage. This cutting is believed to be the ancestral root of all of the Shiraz now grown in Australia.
Busby eventually ended up settling here purchasing a plot of land near Singleton at the foothills of the Brokenback Range - a plot nearby where a majority of the most celebrated producers are now located today. He called his vineyards Kirkton. Others began to settle to the south at higher elevations, and relied on the tributaries of the Hunter to feed the irrigation of their Shiraz during the hot summers.
It wasn’t until the eighteen sixties that the region’s Semillon began to gain international notoriety. With a new swath of producers and eager vintners, the wines were taken to the 1855 Paris Exhibition; yes, the one famous for the classification of the Bordeaux Châteaux. The wines were well received, adjudicators comparing them to top Burgundies and Champagnes of the time. So popular were they, that one, James King’s Irrawang Vineyard, was consumed by the royal entourage at the closing ceremonies following their favorable adjudication. What an honor, coming from the French.
Phylloxera signaled the beginning of the decline for this burgeoning wine region. Though marginally effected by the root-depleting louse, the greater affectation for the Hunter Valley was actually the changing of consumer tastes from the light quaffable sweet wines produced here, to a new style of fortified sherry, and port that were becoming increasingly popular and more easily transportable. The nineteen thirties saw the global depression, and this was the knockout blow for the Hunter Valley. Many were forced to part with their vineyards, and more still left to fight for the commonwealth in the second world war.
The sixties saw the beginning of a second awakening for the region, and marked the period in which Sémillon became the grape of record for the region. In the decades following the war, large and established estates such as Tyrell vineyards began quietly purchasing some of the disused properties in the Valley, expanding their landholdings, and allowing them to introduce and focus on new plantings in the region.
One of these front-running international varieties was Chardonnay. The sixties marked an obsession with Chardonnay for the Australian winemakers. It also ushered in an era of beginning to appreciate their extraordinarily old vines of Shiraz. Many different regions around Australia, including the very hot Hunter Valley had vines that were over one hundred and fifty years old, and capable of extremely low yields and incredible quality. Though Cabernet made an inquisition following the advent of the flying vigneron of the nineties, many younger Australians made an extraordinary attempt to save the old vines from being ripped up. At an earlier time, these old vines were known for their characteristics of brettanomyces, but today with tastes changing and microbiology better understood, winemakers have taken a sharp departure form this common, often sanitation-related wine fault.
A newer operation producing incredible old-vine Shiraz from the Hunter Valley is Saddler's Vineyards. The Alessandro Reserve in particular, offers exceptional value, and is an easy-to-drink, approachable wine for those that like a rich, full-bodied, high tannin superstar. The curtains open with a wafting aromas of blue fruit; dry huckleberry, blackberry, and fresh blueberry, which slowly fades into a mineral expression of crushed granite. Leathery notes of thyme and shoe polish are also palatable. This wine is very refined, but still as explosive as is characteristic.
While Chardonnay had been planted fairly commonly all across Australia, Hunter Valley began to become more and more famous, especially as big names like Tyrrell’s had crossed the million bottle mark with their bin 47 Chardonnay. But it was a Sydney wine vendor that began to peddle the first bottlings of Sémillon from the region with any success, and exquisite they were. It was called Rhine Gold. Today, the Hunter valley is one of Austrailia’s busiest regions, and a hub for tourism, and produces nearly three percent of Australia’s overall wine, most of which is Sémillon-based, and likely botrytized.
This affectation does not come without warning for winemakers in this area. The region is desperately hot, even for Australia. Average temperatures sit somewhere just above seventy-three degrees, which if you consider that winter numbers should be factored into that calculation, is impressively hot. Thanks to the varicose stretching of the Hunter River and its tributaries, the humidity late season is non-negotiable.
The most troubling deficit in the vine growing process for wine producers is not just to keep their wines from botrytizing too early, it is often to keep the late season rains from destroying the crop and dusting the fruit in powdery mildew. Mid-summer, growers must oppositely scramble to Gove the vines water which is often promulgated from the vast expanse of the river at the foot of the valley. Often it is the higher elevation areas of the northern valley that need to irrigate their vines mid season to prevent heat lock, and stress.
The climate is essentially humid sub-tropical - yearly average temperatures are a whopping seventy-three degrees. Essentially the same yearly average as Tampa, Florida, for some perspective. Average rainfall is roughly twenty-six inches per year, which is much better for grape production than Tampa’s fifty-five inches. Notably, one saving grace despite the heat is the cooling maritime breezes that roll in from Newcastle and act to cool the grapes and protect them from rot; The Scott Henry seems to be the local favorite.
Because of the shape of the valley, these cool breezes are pulled in from the coast, and drug below the fog line through the valley like a vacuum, bringing with them frequent rains. Due to the slight altitude increases on the rolling hills around the valley, some diurnal shift is notable as well, which is why the top producers are bottling from the higher altitude vineyards.
Wines in the Hunter Valley are grown on multitude of different soil types and terroir distinctions, some better than others. The most coveted are the patches of red clay and terraced limestone that lies above the alluvial soils of the river banks below and up the sides of the valley. Volcanic high acid soils are also common, and are interspersed with red dirt, a bedmate of Shiraz throughout Australia, but particularly consequential in McLaren Vale.
Though less desirable than the red dirt or clay soils, the alluvial grit found mid to low valley is often good for Semillon - especially the botrytized versions. The Brockenback range in particular, is full of volcanic basalt, which is another favorite for the Rhine Gold grape. Canopy management is incredibly important here too. Growers must pick trellising management systems that spread the canopy wide, to allow good airflow that can prevent rot in the hot, humid summers.
The Australian Government approved an official Geographical Indication for The Hunter Valley area, and the larger Hunter GI, which includes wine grown in the areas just south and west, in Mudgee, in 1997. Like other new world region, the GI regulations were purposefully unspecific with approved varietals, so today we see anything from the requisite Semillon, to Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Verdelho and everything in between. It also established the subregions incorporated into the GI, of which there are three.
The Upper Hunter valley is by far the largest, and is the expanse where the majority of older vines are planted. Broke Fordwich, and Pokolbin are the other, smaller regions to the southeast. They also lie on the Hunter just south of the town of Singleton, and are more loosely defined. Near Pokolbin are the even less clearly defined districts of Wollombi, Mountain View, Cessnock, and Lovedale, they are not formally mapped by the GI, nor is the local distinction between the upper Upper Hunter Valley and the lower Upper Hunter subregions. Some find it important to colloquially distinguish the two by way of proximity to the Hunter River, and need for irrigation in the upper Upper valley.
Broke Fordwich was created along with the Hunter GI in 1997, giving growers the ability to add this regional name to their bottles - it is on of the oldest subregions and very many of its shiraz vines are centenarians. Vintners here rely on this region’s desirable soils to market their product. They have the coveted red clay and volcanic marl, with the expected alluvial limestone marls, and sandy loam interspersed.
Due to its proximity to the Brokenback range, this area exists on higher altitude than much of the valley, allowing for good wind exposure to protect the vines from rot. The altitude voids the shade of the fog line in the morning, ensuring sufficient ripening and, most importantly, provides incredible diurnal shift, thereby slowing the ripening of the sugars, reckoning the complexities with mature tannin.
This area is famed mostly for its shiraz, due to the Terra Rossa line that runs from the ridge of the Yellow Rock Escarpment due north, down around the village of Broke. Its exposure to the continental climate coming from the north makes it one of the hottest areas as well, somewhat extenuating the risk of sunburn to the lighter-skinned grapes.
Leviathan producer Tyrell's Winery produces a lovely dry Sémillon with delightful clematine flacors, honey, lemon, and corriander. There are some unique aromas of quince and key lime, with a calcium-like smell of mineral water, and dead leaves. The wine is honeyed, round, and texturally smooth with a certain mid-palette richness which brings on chamomile and lilac high notes. An easy-drinking, complex Semillon for a very good price, at around twenty-dollars per bottle.
Pokolbin is the smallest area of the Hunter Valley and accounts for the least amount of production, though it is where the wineries of distinction are located, including the illustrious Tyrrell. It was also the first region to being growing Chardonnay, the ever popular conquistador of the New World’s wine regions from Burgundy.
Here, in this lower valley area, we see less diurnal shift, but vineyards covered by the fog line and sustained by the maritime breezes during the summer. Frost in the latter and bud break seasons can be detrimental, but are not uncommon here. Mountains encircle the Valley, flanking it from all sides, and providing much needed shade from the sun in the afternoons. They also cool the valley below by guiding the low-lying cool Maritime winds through them with exhaustible force.
Wines are generally Sémillon-based, thanks to the presence of the sandy-loam soils, that are excellent for drainage, and superb for crisp white wines. But Shiraz is of course not an uncommon, especially not near the foothills of the inactive volcano known as Mount View to the south where there is a line of Terra Rossa and igneous outcroppings.
The Upper Hunter Valley is the largest and most diverse, and youngest subregion. Surrounding the small town of Musswellbrook, plantings of grapes can be found strewn along the ridges of the hunter. The first vineyard planted here was done so by German vigneron, Carl Brecht, who’s wines became quite highly regarded in the 1880’s when they had won several competitions.
Like any other vineyard in this newer area, it fell victim to the great depression and the tribulations of the second World War. The region really began to become a success when Australian wine megalith Pennfold's began buying up property in the Hunter Valley, including a lot of land holdings associated with Brecht’s original estate. This subregion sees far fewer days of rain than the rest of the Hunter, though often struggles with heat stress from the raging sun.
That's All,
~K