Against a background of ongoing oversupply in the wine industry, increasing supermarket power (over 50% of wine currently sold in major supermarket liquor chains is in-house made up labeling of cheap bulk wine), a strong A$ and a Sydney market which does not support local wines (Hunter has less than 5% of Sydney restaurant listings) I beg to take a contrarian view.
Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and philanthropist, has often said that the best time to buy is when few others will, or the time to be brave is when others are fearful. I think this applies to the finest Hunter wines today. The reasons for this are in no particular order.
- Hunter Shiraz and Semillon are two unique styles on a global basis which are distinctive and recognizable. This in a world which is losing that sense of “somewhereness” in a rush to globalisation.
- Large scale industrial winemaking common in South Australia is just not possible in the soils and climate of the lower Hunter.
- These classic varieties are planted on their own roots in the Hunter. In almost every other Australian region they are planted on American rootstock.
- The best Shiraz and Semillon vineyards in the Hunter are planted with vines directly descended from the Busby plantings at Kirkton, Australia’s original winegrape vineyard, planted in the early 1830s.
- These wines are well balanced food friendly wines with moderate levels of alcohol and tannin.
At Glenguin we use organic practices on vines directly descended from Busby which produce low yields of exceptional fruit. Everything is done by hand from planting to training, from pruning to picking and on into the winery where the ferments are handplunged. We produce just 1,000 to 1,500 cases in total each year with each wine only being made in small batches. We have a qualified winemaker (Rhys), viticulturist (Andrew with assistant viticulturist Phil) and Australia’s 7th Master of Wine on the team and 5 Red Stars in the Wine Companion.
Despite this our wines are available at a fraction of the price of similar quality and provenance from fashionable regions and producers.
Robin Tedder, MW
