Riverbank
Shiraz
Shiraz is the classic Hunter Valley red - rich and
full bodied with the potential to develop in the bottle into a silky
smooth satisfying red wine with 5 to 8 years bottle age, sometimes a
lot longer. The fame of the Hunter Valley rests very much on the
national and international acclaim of Shiraz based wines from this
region.
When the McNamara
family decided to plant wine grapes the first step was to look
around the property for suitable soil, and a ridge of weathered
basalt in front of the milking shed had long been recognised as
the best soil on the farm. The relationship of this basalt
"terra-rosa" soil and Shiraz is well known, so the
decision to plant Shiraz here was an easy one.
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In 2002 the switch
from cork to screw-cap was made with some of the wine going into
each type of closure. By 2010 the difference between the two was
quite apparent - the cork topped wine had developed quicker and
was fading, the screw capped wine was fresher and brighter with
years ahead of it.
The bushfire year of
2003 gave the wine a quite distinct smokiness still evident today
- ideal with smoked duck breast. However it was the 2004 that
gained us significant attention with a gold at the Hunter Valley
Wine Show in 2006, followed by another gold the year later. The
following vintage 2005 also impressed the judges with a gold and
trophy.
These two outstanding
wines were followed by a slightly disappointing 2006 - good but
not great - with silver medals awarded.
The 2007 is a fabulous wine with a huge future,
having picked up gold medals at both 2009 and 2010 Hunter Valley
Wine Show: the score of 56 points out of 60 was the highest of any
red wine in the entire show.
Three fabulous and
one excellent year were followed by a couple of disastrous seasons
- the 2008 was regarded as good enough to follow
their illustrious predecessors so the grapes were not picked.
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However, 2010 was a
return to form with a small crop of very intensely coloured and
flavoured grapes harvested and still in oak, but with great
potential. In 2011 we had a patchy sort of year with some
inconvenient rain but the fruit we finally managed to pick was
fine. It is a little too early to tell, but we are hopeful.
Food Match:
Hunter Shiraz and Hunter Beef - one of the great combinations. Also
pretty good with lamb, kangaroo and any other full flavoured dish |
