WITH the Karl Stockhausen Award for the best white of the show and three other trophies, the little Colvin Wines operation was a big success in the 2022 Hunter Valley Boutique Wine Show at Maitland.
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It is one of the Hunter's smallest producers with 5.47 hectares of vines in its Ekerts Road, Pokolbin, property.
As well as winning the Stockhausen prize honouring the late, great winemaker and wine judge, the $55-a bottle Colvin Wines 2014 Semillon was awarded the open vintage semillon trophy, the $55 Colvin 2009 De Beyers Vineyard Semillon won the best museum dry white trophy and the $120 Colvin 2007 De Beyers Vineyard Shiraz, of which there are limited stocks, was the best museum varietal or blend red.
The three wines are available at colvinwines.com.au.
De Beyers vineyard was first planted by Henri De Beyer in the 1890s and replanted in 1967 by a group that included Frank Margan, a pioneer wine writer and restaurateur and father of top vigneron Andrew Margan. It has been owned since 1993 and upgraded by Sydney lawyer and former CEO of the Institute of Company Directors John Colvin and his wife Robyn. The vineyard is managed by Tyrrell's and its whites are made by Andrew Spinaze and the reds by Mark Richardson.
John Colvin is the brother of Sydney PR consultant Deeta Colvin, who owned the De Beyers Road Mistress vineyard with her husband, 2000 Sydney Olympics bid chief Rod McGeoch, and sold it in 2020 to Iain Riggs.
Many of the boutique show trophy and gold medal winners are current releases.
Andrew Thomas Wines won the most successful exhibitor award, with Thomas scion Dan accepting four trophies, eight gold, five silver and five bronze medals. The open vintage shiraz trophy went to the Thomas 2019 Elenay Shiraz, the 2019 and the best white museum varietal or blend to the 2013 Cellar Reserve Braemore Semillon and the best red museum varietal or blend to the 2017 Kiss Shiraz. None are now available, but the gold medal $30 2022 OC Semillon and the $65 2017 Elenay Shiraz are at thomaswines.com.au and the Pokolbin cellar.
Husband and wife winemaking team Damien Stevens and Jodie Belleville scored the best 2021 chardonnay trophy with their $50 Hart and Hunter 2021 26 Rows Chardonnay, which is at the Pokolbin cellar door and hartandhunter.com.au.
AARON Mercer only launched his eponymous brand last year but it already has winning ways, gaining the 2022 Hunter Valley Boutique Wine Show best red of show, best 2021 shiraz and best 2022 semillon trophies.
The $60-a-bottle Mercer 2021 Limited Release Shiraz took the Dr Ray Healey best red and 2021 shiraz trophies and the $40 Mercer 2022 Limited Release Semillon won the best 2022 semillon trophy and both can be bought at mercerwines.com.au and the cellar door in the Wine House in McDonalds Road, Pokolbin. Dr Healey was a veteran judge of major wine shows and a long-time Hunter boutique show chair of judges.
Aaron launched his brand in 2020 after chalking up 21 vintages - 15 in the Hunter at Scarborough Wines, Brokenwood, Tyrrell's and Tamburlaine, three in the US and one each in France, Canada and Germany.
With only five hectares of vines Adam and Alexys Elbourne's Marrowbone Road, Pokolbin, vineyard regularly punches above its weight in wine judgings, and, in the James Halliday 2018 Wine Companion, Elbourne was rated among Australia's 10 best new producers.
In the 2022 Hunter boutique show the best open vintage shiraz trophy went to the Elbourne 2019 HAE Shiraz (available at elbournewines.com.au and the vineyard Thursday-Saturday).
Adam, who previously ran a Hornsby-based bathroom supplies import business, and Alexys, a Cessnock-practising dentist who was Maitland born and raised, became Hunter vignerons in 2009 when they bought 22-hectare Marrowbone Road property behind the Elfin Hill Motel.
There they have set up home with their two children and also run Wessex Saddleback pigs, black-faced Suffolk sheep and horses.
The Maitland best open vintage chardonnay trophy was awarded to the RidgeView 2015 Impressions Chardonnay, which usually sells for $60 but is on offer now at a 10 per cent discount to celebrate the show success. It's at ridgeview.com.au and the 273 Sweetwater Road, Pokolbin cellar door and restaurant of Sydney dentist Darren Scott and his wife Tracey.
The best other varieties red trophy was claimed by the Wilson family's Ernest Hill 2021 Andrew Watson Tempranillo, which sells for $35 on ernesthillwines.com.au and the Nulkaba vineyard.
Michael and Meredith McManus's Stomp Wines operation won the 2022 other white varieties or blends trophy with their $28 Stomp 2022 Limited Release Fiano, which can be bought at stompwine.com.au and the Lovedale cellar door.
WINE REVIEWS
BEST RED OF SHOW
BEST red of the Hunter Boutique Wine Show, the Mercer 2021 Limited Release Shiraz has 14% alcohol and potpourri aromas and shines bright garnet in the glass. The front palate delivers plush, ripe plum flavour, the middle palate blackcurrant, bramble jelly, spice and savoury oak and minty tannins play at the finish.
PRICE: $60.
DRINK WITH: beef sirloin with béarnaise sauce.
AGEING: 10 years.
RATING: 5.5 stars
CHARDONNAY WINNER
THIS refreshing, best 2022 semillon trophy Mercer 2022 Limited Release Semillon is green-tinted lemon, honeysuckle-scented and crisp lime front-palate flavoured. The middle palate displays ruby grapefruit, lemon zest, sherbet and slate characters and the finish has steely acid. At mercerwines.com.au and the Wine House cellar door.
PRICE: $40.
DRINK WITH: oysters mornay.
AGEING: seven years.
RATING: 5 stars
FINE IMPRESSIONS
THE Maitland open vintage chardonnay trophy winner, this beautifully aged RidgeView 2015 Impressions Chardonnay has brassy tinted straw hues and scents of fig and brioche. The front palate shows expressive peach flavour, the middle palate grapefruit, melon, oatmeal and cashew oak and a finish of slatey acid. At ridgeview.com.au and cellar.
PRICE: $60.
DRINK WITH: paella.
AGEING: five years.
RATING: 5 stars
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