Ned Goodwin MW takes a fresh look at the current state of play in New South Wales wine, and the performance of its key regions over the last decade. See scores and commentary in our latest update to the Langton’s Vintage Chart now.

The Hunter Valley is Australia’s oldest wine region and remains the fulcrum of NSW wine. It was established in the late 18th to early 19th century as much due to the relative proximity of the colonial settlements in Sydney and Newcastle, as its capacity for quality wine. Ironically, vines were perceived as a means to promote public sobriety and safety as settlements expanded north of Sydney where wine’s role as a putative civilising force resonated strongly. At least as a safer option than rum!

The climate here is warm to hot, with a frigid edge to the extreme diurnal shifts experienced during the winter months. The summer, however, unlike Mediterranean climates that distinguish many of Australia’s viticultural zones, is the wettest time of year. This defines the region as sub-tropical. Given the strafing of recent fires and floods, an inveterate consummation of a warm climate growing warmer and peripatetic of mood, it is easy to wonder whether vines would have been planted in the Hunter at all if the early pastoralists knew what we know now. As one moves farther west to Mudgee and Orange beyond, the climate becomes distinctly Continental and cooler, with vineyards at the border such as David Lowe’s, extending beyond 1200 metres to make them Australia’s highest.

Stepping back, James Busby was responsible for the first major Hunter Valley planting in 1825. As with vineyards that came after his, he focused on the rich alluvial soils running contiguous to the Hunter River. In 1831 Busby ventured to Europe and returned with cuttings from Syrah’s firmament, the Hermitage hill in the Northern Rhône. These cuttings took root in the Hunter soon after and in 1847, the Hunter Valley Viticulture Society was founded with the mission of expanding viticultural knowledge and improving techniques in the region, shifting the focus to the alluvial river sands for white wines and the ferrous red duplex soils and loams for quality red wine production. Remnants of volcanic basalt drift into the base of Brokenback Range and meander west to Orange, while hallowed limestone, too, is smattered amidst the Hunter substrata. By the end of the decade, Hunter Valley plantings expanded inexorably from 80 hectares to over 200, eventually exceeding 728 hectares. Today, however, the opposite is true and few if any new vines are being planted in a region divvied between the Upper and Lower Hunter and the latter’s renowned sub-regions of Pokolbin and
Broke Fordwich.

Yet the Hunter forges ahead with a gallant persistence, fuelled by a steady stream of tourism from the big smoke and quality wines of which the best are irrefutably among the country’s finest. They are iconoclastic and highly age-worthy, from tensile Semillon to mid-weighted and savoury reds, with Shiraz the standout. Noteworthy are Tyrrell’s, Lake’s Folly, Brokenwood and Mount Pleasant, each a stalwart of the Langton’s Classification. Thomas, Margan and Vinden are also worthy of attention. The Semillon in these parts is redolent of lanolin, buttered toast and lemon drop, with an intensity of flavour that belies a featherweight complexion. The Shiraz , meanwhile, evoke earthen terracotta warmth, dark cherry, mulch and the sweetness of freshly tilled soil, a savoury profile unique among the Australian panorama. These are wine styles capable of winning over bold red drinkers as much as those with a more European sensibility.

Mudgee and Orange are pretty regions. Altitude serves as a salve against warming temperatures and higher alcohols, particularly in Mudgee’s more traditional wine styles. David Lowe and Robert Stein are leaders of the pack here, while Printhie for fizz and Swinging Bridge for an eclectic range of textural expressions, pique the interest in Orange. Optimistically, Orange is growing and a generational shift augurs well, not only locally, but for the broader stylistic patina that it is beginning to impart to the NSW wine culture at large. Quality wine is also found in the Southern Highlands, Shoalhaven and most intriguingly, New England. Here, too, altitude mitigates warming temperatures to deliver compelling wines at Toppers Mountain, by far the best winery in
the GI.