KEY POINTS:
Floating across Australia's Hunter Valley in a hot air balloon some months ago, I looked down on boxing kangaroos fighting it out on parched pastures. Recently the scene would look quite different, and this time the battles would have been waged against the rising floodwaters.
But word from the Hunter has been upbeat. Happening as it did at a time when the vines are dormant, the floods appear to have caused little significant damage. In fact, some winegrowers are even welcoming the deluge that's filled the dams and rehydrated the region's dry soil.
Traditionally the Hunter has been one of the wetter wine regions, where growers are frequently lashed by unwelcome rain at harvest. However, as with elsewhere in Australia, its weather patterns have been on the move, and winemakers are celebrating the fact that for some years it's been drier at vintage, while lamenting the drought of the past couple of years.
Weather has always been a challenge for those in this hot and humid spot. However, this historic wine region has had even more to grapple with in modern times as cool-climate wine styles have become increasingly fashionable and the world's wine-drinking tastes move towards youthful fruit-driven wines.
In contrast, the attractiveness of Hunter Valley wines doesn't always hang on their fruit and they often require age to reach their drinking peak.
The Hunter is home to one of the world's few truly unique styles of wine, in its distinctive semillons. Deceptively light, tight and lemony in their youth, after four years or so in bottle they start to blossom into honeyed, toasty and buttery beauties, which can go on to age for decades.
Its main red variety, shiraz makes another highly distinctive style. Earthy, savoury and leathery, shiraz was once also described as having a sweaty saddle character.
While this may have been considered expressive of the region in the past, the source of this trait has since been acknowledged and addressed as a less appealing winemaking fault. A whiff of leather may remain on Hunter shiraz, but more often than not there's none of that perspiration as wineries clean up their act.
The Hunter's soft peachy chardonnays are a more recent arrival, with verdelho starting to take off. These are quite a contrast to the region's more traditional wine styles with plenty of freshness and fruitiness.
There's been plenty of positive change in the region, and anyone who's written it off as outdated would be well-advised to give its characterful wines a second look. One example of a renewed confidence in the region is the release this month of the first icon wine from Wyndham Estate.
Its founder George Wyndham established Australia's first shiraz vineyard in the Hunter 170 years ago, but in modern times the estate largely shifted its shiraz production to outside the region. However, in a return to its roots, Wyndham Estate has used fruit from its flagship Black Cluster vineyard in the Hunter to make its Black Cluster Shiraz 2003, a substantial wine with the serious price tag of $70.
In these times of changing tastes and climes, the Hunter still has some struggles ahead. Let's hope the winemakers triumph, or we risk losing some truly individual wines.
Happy Hunting
Classic Hunter Semillon
Tyrrell's Vat 1 Hunter Semillon 1998 $64A fine example of a classic Hunter semillon with layers of lemon juice and buttered toast that displays all the style's toasty but taut splendour. It's wonderful now, but has some great years ahead of it.
* From Glengarry.
A Pleasant Drop
Mount Pleasant Philip Hunter Valley Shiraz 2002 $22
A mellow and mature introduction to Hunter shiraz that shows its hallmark earthy, savoury, spicy notes over midweight blackberry fruit. Mount Pleasant also makes one of the best value-aged semillons, the Elizabeth, which sells for the same price and is definitely something worth buying, trying and cellaring if you've the willpower.
* From Liquorland Newmarket and Foodtown in Greenlane, Takapuna and Grey Lynn.
Vivid Verdelho
Margan Hunter Valley Verdelho 2005 $21
Full-bodied but fresh, this verdelho illustrates the appeal of the modern fruity wines coming out of the region, with its crisp green apple and ripe honeydew melon fruit and burst of zippy lime.
* From Bacchus Cellars and Point Wines.
