A wonderful example of Hunter Shiraz. Ripe berries and spice with a touch of leather on the nose and a beautifully integrated palate showing plenty of juicy fruit flavour in a subtle well balanced style.

One of the great wines of Australia, Hunter Shiraz is powerful as it is subtle. Everything is in balance: Pure ripe blackberry fruit flavours, some spice and earthy characters and round soft tannins.

Recognised as one of the first vineyards in the Hunter Valley, Audrey Wilksonson has a long and storied history in the region. They continue today to produce wines of region character with fine craftsmanship. Their Hunter Valley Shiraz is a wine in perfect harmony. Majority French oak is used to mature a wine that has flavours of intense cherries and violets overlapping powerful mulberry and that traditional Hunter character of forest floor and earth.

The fruit for the 2016 Vat 9 Shiraz was sourced from Tyrrells super premium vineyards on the Ashmans property with an average vine age of 50 years. Predominately from the Weinkeller and Short Flat vineyards. Winemaking The blocks were all hand picked and sorted in the vineyard before arriving at the winery. All the fruit was then destemmed but not crushed, followed by fermentation in traditional open top concrete vats. After fermentation the wiens were matured in newer 2700L French oak casks for ten months.

Bright, deep colour with a good tint of purple; reserved and shy bouquet with hints of blackberry, the palate medium-full bodied and elegantly weighted, with fine and understated tannins, pleasing flavour and balance on the aftertaste where it has line and length. A serious shiraz from a top vintage that impresses the more you sip it.

A concentrated and complex wine with dark choclate, liquorice and spice aromas and flavours accentuated by nutty oak from barrel maturation.