We hit golf balls into the Hunter Valley and try some of my most favourite Australian Shiraz. We hit golf balls into the Hunter Valley and try some of my most favourite Australian Shiraz. Brokenwod – Hunter Valley, March 12 2007

This morning saw another oversleeping incident. We were supposed to leave at 7:15am and I opened my eyes at 7:05. Screaming (sustained and high pitched, I would imagine, although the memory is a blur), I managed to dress, shower and pack and made it outside for about 7:20am.

My hair was wet again, I had no makeup on, again and I had dressed for 40 degree heat (what Hunter Valley experienced the day before) only to find, once temperature started to penetrate my conscious mind, that it was in fact considerably lower than that.

Again, this was no way to start a day. Thank God for Brokenwood – undoubtedly one of the most laid back, friendly wineries in the world. I defy anyone to remain bad tempered, no matter how freezing and ungroomed they may be, in the presence of such Australian cheer.

We had been promised a ‘morning surprise’ before the tasting, something which had led to all sorts of wild speculation in the group. Many were hopeful that it would be some sort of dawn sexual favour but those of us with more common sense (the female contingent) realised that this was unlikely.

On arriving in the winery, we were put into 4 different 4 wheel drive vehicles and taken on a ‘dawn safari’ up a steep hill which is also a public nature reserve which overlooks the Hunter Valley. The drive was fantastic – we climbed through thick forest of beautiful indigenous trees – some eucalypts, but also some far more sub-tropical – and stopped near the summit of a steep hill. A further short climb and we came out of the trees onto a small, rocky stretch with a spectacular view over the Hunter – all vigorous, bright, tropical green rolling down the valley in waves. Glasses of Taittinger were duly poured and then, instead of the expected talk on soil types in the Hunter, wine maker Iain Riggs produced a box of golf balls and a selection of clubs and announced that we would all have the opportunity to drive a ball or two over the valley.

I don’t really get the thrill of hitting balls at any time and while I can accept that it is more exciting to hit one into the wide green yonder than it is across a court say, fundamentally, I am still not convinced. This hardly mattered though. Despite the fact that I really was freezing cold and not even slightly interested in golf, it was a spectacular view, all the more so because it was so very different to all the other regions of Australia we had visited. This was the most valley like – we were in Northern Hunter, which is indeed more of a ‘real’ valley than the south – and the colour really was amazing – soft, vibrant green - very tropical.

After everyone had at least attempted to whack a ball or two into valley, we packed up and headed back to the winery where the resident chef (they have a full time chef during vintage so that those working 20 hours a day don’t have to worry about feeding themselves) had prepared a fabulous breakfast – everything from fresh fruit to bacon and eggs.

Finally, after breakfast it was time to do some work and we started with the full Brokenwood history. This winery is unique in Australia in that it is still owned by 25 shareholders who all have a passionate interest in making and drinking wine but even more than that, in having fun. It was apparently recently decided that the company really needed a mission statement. Firstly because everyone else seemed to have one but also because certain people felt it would do everyone good to crystallise what is was that they were trying to achieve.

After hours of deliberation around the boardroom table, they came up with ‘To make great wine and have fun’, which is a pretty perfect summation of what happens at Brokenwood. The people who work here obviously love what they do. It is a very young, energetic team and I could quite imagine an older, perfectionist winemaker finding the place his or her own personal vision of hell. It works though – they are making some fabulous wines and if it ain’t broke, well, you certainly don’t try to fix it.

The winery has always been about fun. It was founded in 1970 but 3 Sydney lawyers who were regular customers at Len Evan’s Sydney restaurant. Len ( legendary figure in the Australian wine industry) of course, famously, owned a winery in the Hunter, and he finally inspired the group to the point that they threw caution to the wind and spent what was at the time a record amount of money ($970 an acre) for their very own plot of land.

They were weekend wine makers and the name comes from the fact that clearing the land for vineyards of broken wood (which they did themselves, with the help of friends) very nearly killed them but post hard manual labour, they would make sure that they had a great party, each of the three taking turns to host this. There would be eating and drinking, singing, dancing, playing of poker and, apparently, much falling over.

When they were finally making wine, one of the trio would then be responsible for getting up the next morning (Sunday) and opening up the very basic cellar/garage/ tasting room for cellar door sales. Legend has it that one of them was so amazingly hung over the next morning that barely an hour after opening, he turned to the lady who would come in to help out and asked how much they tended to take in the shop on a Sunday. When she told him the figure, he promptly wrote out a cheque for the amount, handed it to her and closed up shop.

In spite of all of this – an no doubt more than a little because of it - , Brokenwood has grown into a very successful, profitable company – one which has never had to borrow from banks to fund its expansion. A great inspiration and a shining example to us all (and most on this trip are small business owners) that it is entirely possible to create a company that people love to work for, making a quality product, having a lot of fun with said product and still making money.

God bless Brokenwood.

In many ways, the Hunter is a strange place to make wine. Climatically, it is sub-tropical with intensely hot, although not always very sunny days with high humidity. It is this cloud cover (70 – 90% in the crucial growing months of December to March) plus the gently ameliorating effects of sea breezes which keep the heat in check and the fact that it is not sunny, means that the wines are very balanced as far as alcohol goes. Direct sunshine during the growing phase is one of the principle factors giving sugar ripeness, so less of that equals less sugar and consequently less alcohol. The high humidity also of course causes problems with downy mildews so they need to use a lot of copper spray to control this.

All over the upper Hunter, reds are mainly planted on a red volcanic soil and the wines on sandy loam.

We strolled down to Brokenwood’s most iconic vineyard – Graveyard – where their top Hunter Valley Shiraz is grown. The Brokenwood team refer to the plants as their ‘Bonsai vines’ and they are indeed rather straggly, spindly looking little things despite their, by Australian standards, great age – this was initially planted in 1970 and now consists of 12 acres of old vines, 13.5 acres of new grafted vines and and 4 of new on their own roots).

The Hunter has never succumbed to phylloxera either and here, as elsewhere, everyone is remarkably relaxed, despite the Yarra Valley tragedy mentioned earlier. I am actually writing this in New Zealand and it is interesting to note the difference here. Although grafting is very recent here with many vineyards still on own rootstocks after quite a few recent discoveries of the pest, producers here are a lot more jumpy and have started replanting programs in the knowledge that it is definitely not if, but when.

This puniness is result of the extremely poor soils – clay and volcanic, which means very low vigour and very low yields – all beautiful words to fine wine lovers everywhere. The spacing in the vineyard is very wide but absolutely everything is done by hand – extra space is because of the lack of nutrients in the soil. Until 2003, the vineyard was completely dry farmed but from 2002, as in the rest of the country, the Hunter fell victim to the terrible drought. This is almost impossible to believe standing in an unbelievably lush, green spot, the air full of that moist, earthy fertile smell tropical and semi tropical places have but it is sadly all too true.

They have for years made the best of the rain which does fall by ploughing deep between the rows so that the moisture soaks straight in but they are now having to drip irrigate. This is possible thanks to a far sighted scheme started 15 years ago in the Hunter which ran a pipeline from the upper Hunter River and declaring it a private irrigation district. The water has to be paid for by those who use it of course but at least, for now, it is there.

Chief winemaker, Managing Director and shareholder Iain Rigg first came to Brokenwood in 1982 and he is widely credited with revolutionising the winery, transforming it from a small, although admittedly successful, ‘hobby’ company, into a much larger concern – production is currently at 80,000 - 100,000 cases, which has retained all of its core values.

When he joined, only red wines were produced but barely a year into his reign, that had changed to 70% white and 30% red. He is known for being one of Australia’s Shiraz specialists, a view I would heartily concur with – his Shiraz is always a pleasure to drink, never overweight or clumsy – and he has been very careful about what he calls GUTS – Grapes Unique To Site. Therefore, anything which does not grow particularly well in this strange climate is sourced from elsewhere and come in either as grapes or must. The exception is their wine from Beechworthy in Victoria which, because of the problems with Phylloxera, has to be fermented there and transported later.

After the vineyards – where I again and cursed my lack of camera with great venom – we went to the winery to taste some barrel samples. Vintage was in full swing with lots of young people who looked more like surfers and ski boarders than aspiring wine makers cleaning barrels, lugging pipes around etc. Unsurprisingly, we were told that one of them was at hospital that day getting fixed up after a surfer accident. The walls of the winery are covered in graffitied posters and paraphernalia - the smashed up door of a car belonging to an employee who was still clearly not fit to drive the morning after a party (luckily no harm done to anyone or thing except the car); inexplicably, a giant winnie the pooh head, a heath and safety poster attached to the wall by some lethal looking knives. This feels as much like a student party house as it does a winery.

We started with samples of their Chardonnay which, in my opinion, is their least successful wine style. To be fair, these were still very jumpy and all over the place but even the finished, settled article is mediocre at best.

We then moved on to various barrels of Shiraz – all of which were extraordinarily good. 06 Pa’s block had fantastically pure red and black fruit and already great length. This was apparently going through malolactic fermentation but had not a trace of the nervy edge that usually means.

A sample from young vines had much less depth of fruit but was still attractively fresh and very balanced while the 06 Graveyard End block was sensational – glossy black fruit with gingerbread spice, already perfectly balanced, integrated tannins and acidity.

The Maclaren vale samples showed their terroir immediately and obviously with much denser, sweeter, heavier fruit – more gloop – but still balanced. Not my thing but to my mind, the best examples from that region we have tasted so far on this trip.

After this, it was back to the tasting room for a proper look at the current releases.

2006 Hunter Valley Semillon

When this first comes in, they get 4 dozen oysters, stand around the press and have an oyster with a glass of the first crush of Semillon. This is their start of the vintage ritual which is religiously observed.

Beautifully zesty and fresh lemon, lemon peel with a steely, grapefruit edge. Balanced, high acidity, light body, the same mixture of lemon and grapefruit on the palate. Great development with a very faint honeyed spice coming out later. Great length and fanastic citrus and honey finish. This is glorious wine – delicate without being at all a shrinking violet, I can’t think of much lovelier to drink that this on a hot summers day.

Highly Recommended.

£12.35

2001 Hunter Valley ILR Semillon

They lost 600 dozen of this wine due to random oxidation by the time they got to labelling the bottles. (This is kept at the winery for 6 – 7 years before labelling and selling) 35- 45% was lost to random oxidation and 8 – 12% to TCA taint, so based on this, they have now switched their entire range to screwcap.

Same zesty citrus on the nose but slightly closed. This has faint TCA taint which comes through on the palate – slightly musty notes and this is completely disjointed towards the back.

Second bottle – much tighter on the nose with chunks of fresh lemon still evident. High but balanced acidity, light body, very fresh lemon and grapefruit fruit with some richer spice and toasty character towards the back. Excellent length and spicy citrus finish. These wines are made to age which is evident in this example – still really too lively for all except those who like their whites super crisp.

Highy Recommended

£16.75

For ILR Semillon, it is the best wines from the best vineyards in any given year – some years, it is single vineyard. Otherwise, the two are treated exactly the same.

ILR stands for Iain Leslie Riggs –the chief wine maker and person who first introduced the idea of a Semillon

2005 Cricket Pitch White – Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend

Both of this fruit come from the Caura vineyard – 4 hours west of Sydney

Same zesty freshness on the nose, only slightly more muted than the Semillon. Balanced acidity, medium body, much richer melon fruit on the nose with the fresh lemon around the edges but overall the feeling is soft and easy. Good length and good fruity finish.

Recommended

£11.00

This is amazingly easy going, easy to drink white wine – soft and approachable. Apparently the marketing manager here refers to this as ‘chick’s beer’ and much as I really do hate the habit of referring to ladies as small, yellow, furry birds, he completely has a point. I do think however, only the most Neanderthal of men would fail to find this every bit as drinkable as well.

2005 Forest Edge Chardonnay, Orange

Slightly course on the nose, some citrus. Slightly course acidity, medium body, overly toasty fruit and honey with an aggressive smokiness coming through towards the back. Course finish.

Based on the barrel samples tasted earlier and this, I don’t think Chardonnay is a particular strength for Brokenwood. They make truly lovely Semillon and Sauvignon/Semillon blends, but I don’t think they have a particularly good handle on Chardonnay.

2003 Cricket Pitch Red

Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz

Faintly smoky, plum and black fruit nose. Balanced acidity, very soft tannins, medium body, the same red and black fruit with a smoky/spicy edge on the palate. Slightly hollow in the middle with a flat finish. I don’t think that this is nearly as successful as the white – it is slightly course and clumsy. Not bad wine, but not at all exceptional either.

2002 Brokenwood Maclaren Vale, Padthaway and Beechworth Shiraz

The barrel sample of the 06 of this was fantastic – lots of very glossy black fruit which managed not to descend into gloop – fresher than anything tasted in Maclaren Vale

Smoky nose – the glossy fruit on 06 has completely disappeared. Balanced acidity, velvet tannins, medium to full body with again, more savoury character – smoke, some toasted oak, liquorices and a sprinkling of pepper. Good very subtly spiced finish.

I am not at all mad about this – it may well be a style which is best drunk as young as possible, when it is chock full of sweet, ripe fruit. Of course, it may also just be in a difficult patch as it is certainly not dead or dying.

2004 Hunter Valley Shiraz

Younger vines from Graveyard vineyard and also barrels which did not make the grade.

Sweet red fruit, smoke and pepper on nose. Balanced acidity, structured but very fine tannins, medium body (what a great pleasure that is in an Australian shiraz!!. Very elegant red fruit – cherry and cranberry with roast meat, smoke and black pepper. Great length and fresh fruit finish.

This is wonderful wine – it manages to be elegant while still have something about it which is rich enough to ensure it is certainly new world.

High recommended.

£14.50

2004 Graveyard Vineyard Hunter Valley Shiraz

Much more closed on nose. Balanced acidity, tannins a lot more structured. Much more depth of fruit here but this is still tasting really young – the spice is there but it is still locked in. The length is amazing with a streak of spiced cranberry running straight down the palate and exploding on the finish.

Fabulous wine which is still drinking very young – ideally, buy it now and put it away from at least 3 – 4 years before starting to drink.

Highly Recommended.

£42.00

2004 Wade Block 2, Maclaren Vale

Still very young vines – 12 years old. Cuttings off Cayes vineyard which is considered the quintessential Shiraz block in Maclaren Vale – now 100 years old. This is on a sandy headland – dry grown grapes, hand pruned and picked.

Richer black fruit on the nose – still remarkably restrained compared to the styles we were tasting in Maclaren Vale. Balanced but softer acidity, ripe but structured tannins, rich black cherry with underlying sweet spice, good length and fresh cherry finish.

While I infinitely prefer the Hunter Valley shiraz, many people will prefer this – it has a soft sheen to the fruit, as opposed to the fine, lively spice of the Hunter. Amazingly well made wine.

Recommended although not shipped into the UK.

2004 Rayner Vineyard, Maclaren Vale

Black fruit but also some red cherry and bakewell tart on nose. Balanced acidity, the same ripe but structured tannins but the fruit is sweeter and there is even more gloss on the palate. A good red cherry and pepper finish freshens it up somewhat but it is still overall, richer that the above.

As above, not my thing but an amazingly good example if you like rich Aussie red.

Recommended.

£28.00

After the tasting, we went back to the dining room which opens out onto a wide verandah overlooking the vineyards for lunch. Funky chill out music was playing and it felt more than ever like we had stumbled into a student commune who just happened to make exceptionally good wine.

We tasted some older vintages of Semillon and Shiraz with lunch. While sadly the 1971 was past its best (although not completely dead – it did have a lovely intensely spiced honey mid palate), the 1990 was sensational – lots of waxy lemon with great, subtle richness. This was still very much alive and kicking with at least 5 – 10 years left yet.

The 91 Graveyard with beautifully spicy and elegant with lots of ripe fruit still underlying the more savoury, gamey notes. I don’t know that this has got too much more left in it but it is drinking beautifully now.

The 93 Graveyard was still packed with very sweet fruit – almost overripe really – with lots of underlying savoury spice. I was much more a fan of the 91 which had more elegance and balance.

After lunch we were again on our way, to Sydney where we had a free evening and day. I have never seen a bus full of such excited people – the idea of freedom was heady in the extreme and Tim did wonder out loud if the taste of it would mean that we were completely uncontrollable once we had to return to captivity, so to speak.

I really didn’t care about what was in store once we were back in the fold, all I could think about was how much I just wanted to get inside my hotel room, close the door and not even think about tasting any wine.