97/100 James Halliday
93/100 Huon Hooke
92/100 The Wine Front

5-star winery James Halliday

Top Rated Shiraz of the Year 2024 - Halliday Wine Companion

Matured in French oak (30% new)

Halliday Wine Companion Awards, James Halliday "Tallawanta is one of the most revered vineyards in the Hunter Valley, but you have to work your way into the wine. Its colour is bright but not deep, the bouquet more than adequate, the flavours soaring as the wine enters the mouth. The fruit cadences are primarily red, and vibrantly fresh. Superb wine."

Huon Hooke "Lovely balance and texture, and it's already accessible. It will surely age superbly.... Medium to deep red colour with a good tinge of purple. The bouquet is reserved and shy, with a mineral, ironstone quality. The wine is medium-bodied in the mouth with a generous background of tannins, which add a drying, earthy, mineral aspect. It's almost steely in its mineral, iron-filings taste. "

Wine Enthusiast " The palate is powerful yet focused, with taut, spicy, somewhat austere tannins alongside heaps of acidity and chalky texture....The 2017 was a hot vintage in the Hunter Valley and even though alcohol is restrained, the warmth of the season is still felt in this wine. The nose is initially reductive so decant if drinking now. With air, notes of ripe blueberry, cherry, plum, dried rose and peppery spice make their way out."

James Halliday "A deservedly fashionable winery producing consistently excellent wines. Its big-selling Hunter Semillon provides the volume to balance the limited quantities of the flagships ILR Semillon and Graveyard Shiraz. Brokenwood purchased the Graveyard Vineyard from Hungerford Hill in '78 and has been working to totally rehabilitate the vineyard over the ensuing decades. It's been a vine by vine exercise, with a degree of experimentation of rootstocks and clonal material from other, even older vineyards. Next, there is a range of wines coming from regions including Beechworth (a major resource is the associated Indigo Vineyard), Orange, Central Ranges, McLaren Vale, Cowra and elsewhere. In 2017 Iain Riggs celebrated his 35th vintage at the helm of Brokenwood, offering a unique mix of winemaking skills, management of diverse business, and an unerring ability to keep Brokenwood's high profile fresh and newsworthy. He has also contributed a great deal to various wine industry organisations."

Established in 1970 Brokenwood Wines is one of Australia's most reputable premium wine labels and a must-visit in the Hunter Valley. It was established by Australia's leading wine critic, James Halliday.

Consistently listed as a 5-star winery, Brokenwood is home to the famous Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, the highly acclaimed ILR Reserve Semillon, and the popular Cricket Pitch Range.

The Hunter Valley is the best-known and most highly prized wine region in New South Wales. It is known as the region where the Australian wine industry started. The valley's winemakers have pioneered two distinctive styles of wine (oaked Chardonnay and dry Semillon) and has retained a strong connection with both of them. The Hunter Valley's most famous wine style is its distinctive dry Semillon, made there since the 1870s. Hunter Valley Semillons are renowned for their ability to improve with age.

Shiraz, also known as Syrah is a popular red wine. Though the spiritual homeland of this red grape is France, Syrah has been planted throughout the world to great success. It expresses itself differently depending on the climate, soil and regional style.

Syrah is typically bold and full-bodied, with aromatic notes of smoke, black fruit and pepper spice. Stylistically, it can be round and fruity, or dense and tannic. And in warmer New World regions like Australia, Syrah is most often be called Shiraz.

Winemakers who work in cooler-climate growing regions, both in the Old World and New World, tend to call their wines Syrah. The most famous examples come from the northern Rhône Valley of France, notably Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. In the New World, in regions like Sonoma Coast, California; Yarra Valley, Australia; and parts of Chile, the wines are called Syrah because they emulate the leaner, acid-driven, savory styles of the Old World French classics.

Shiraz tends to come from warmer growing climates, namely the South Australian regions of Barossa, McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills. Stylistically, these wines are lush, fruit-forward examples that embody the warmer, sunnier climate. Shiraz is so important to Australian viticulture that it is the most planted grape variety in the majority of Australian vineyards and has become virtually synonymous with the country's wine regions, and in particular the Barossa Valley.