Graveyard: the evolution of a Hunter wine country classic

"Cabernet was all the go back in the early '80s," now retired long-time Brokenwood chief winemaker Iain Riggs said.

"Everyone drank cabernet and Bordeaux back then - fashion and trend play a part in wine."

The first Graveyard shiraz came the following year in 1984 when they released both a Graveyard shiraz and a Graveyard cabernet.

Which means this month's release of the Hunter's most renowned shiraz - one of only 21 wines from across Australia to earn the highest ranking in the prestigious Langton's Wine Classifications - marks 40 years since the inaugural Graveyard shiraz.

I caught up with Riggs and current chief winemaker Stuart Hordern recently to discuss the wine's evolution.

"I had no idea back then that Graveyard would evolve to be the flagship," Riggs said.

"For me it was just a new single vineyard shiraz, obviously with very good fruit."

If the first couple of vintages were promising, 1986 changed all that.

"Without a doubt the best Graveyard I made in my time," Riggs said. "Before that we'd had bad weather or I'd picked too late, but in 1986 I nailed it. It put us on the map."

Three successive "cracker vintages" followed soon after in 89, 90 and 91, and Graveyard's place in Australian wine's highest echelon was unchallenged.

What other vintages does Hordern put up there?

"After '86, it's the '98, then a matter of personal preference between 2014 and 2018," he said, with Riggs nodding in full agreement.

The price these days is hefty - $350. And yet people queue for it every year.

"Over the last 10 years Graveyard has been consistently better than before," Riggs said. "We're under screwcap, the vines are now 50 years old, better oak and we cull a lot more these days. Plus Stu's doing a great job."

And then of course there's the vineyard itself, planted in four core old-vine parcels.

"It's a unique site, only 10 hectares, on a gentle east slope and even in a good year we only do about 700 cases," Hordern said.

"Three of the parcels are planted north-south and one east-west. I think that's what drives the consistency - every vintage one of the two will handle the conditions a bit better.

"Obviously with wines of this quality, we don't produce it every year."

As always, the annual Graveyard Lunch this Saturday to launch the official release of the new vintage will be one of the big days on the Hunter wine calendar.

"We have a guy on the forklift for four days converting the barrel shed into an event space to hold 350 people," Hordern said.

Clearly they've been doing it in style.

"We've even had guests asking if we'd cater for their weddings," Hordern said.

The reply I'm told was immediate, unambiguous and could be heard around the valley.

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