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Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz 2009
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"Gee, by crikey, by Jingos I’ll tell you what! They’ve turned out a pretty fine Graveyard this vintage. A classic middle weight Hunter with appreciably better oak treatment. The overarching impression it gives you is one of balance. It’s impeccable. Blue fruit, licorice, a little pepper and earth with a gentle charry sauciness. Oak is downplayed this year adding just a kiss of vanilla. Medium weight with fine grained tannin and balanced acidity it fills the mouth with a smooth and effortless charm. The pitch and length all just so – harmony...96 Points." - Gary Walsh.
"Excellent crimson-purple; has a fragrant plum and cherry bouquet, then an intense and very long palate moving into a savoury black fruit spectrum; exemplary tannin and French oak management underpins the line and balance of a wine destined to outlive many who taste it. 96 Points." - James Halliday.
"Deep garnet-purple coloured, the 2009 Graveyard Shiraz offers pronounced notes of warm black cherries, mulberries, menthol, aniseed, crispy pork skin and cloves. Medium-bodied, it has wonderful concentration of berry and spice flavours crisp, seamless acid, medium-firm grainy tannins and a long finish with lingering notes of anise and menthol. 94+ Points." - Robert Parker.
"INKY purple. Expressive aromas of raspberry and boysenberry, smoked meat, anise and cola. Densely packed but energetic and sappy, with a silky texture to the flavours of candied red berries, floral pastille and liquorice. Deep and youthfully taut, but a lively mineral quality adds vivacity and precision to the long, spicy finish. Seriously structured but surprisingly lithe wine that is poised for a long evolution in bottle. 94 Points." - Stephen Tanzer.
5 GOLD STARS - Robert Geddes.
A welcome return of our flagship Graveyard Shiraz after a one year absence and in quality terms a Graveyard Shiraz that fulfils every high standard we set. Excellent mid to deep colour with bright purple tints on the rim. The result of a cooler year but Hunter reds are never really black in colour. Strong lifted fruit aromas of red cherry and sweet earth. As a young wine the oak (nearly all French) is up front with briar-like bramble characters and vanillin sweetness. This will settle into the wine with some bottle age. The Hunter savouriness continues on the palate. Lively red fruit characters supported by fine grained tannins from both the fruit and oak. A long finish and seamless structure giving what the late Len Evans called ‘line and length’. Easily sits alongside the great fine structured Graveyard’s of the past three decades.
Four-day cold soak, five-day ferment with hand plunging two times per day in small two-tonne fermenters, then run off to oak. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation in barrels – 80% French and 20% American, with about 80% new.
Mid-January in the Hunter Valley always brings with it a slight nervousness in the wine industry. Having been battered in both previous years – drought in 2007 and pouring rain in 2008, it is no wonder. Black cats are certainly not wanted and ladders given a wide berth.
Vintage 2009? The rain that plagued the 08 vintage finally eased up at the end of April and then no rain days in May. The middle three winter months normally dry for us saw another 250mm (10 inches) and then odd rain days through to the year end. Fruit set was not as complete but resulted in long loose bunches especially in the shiraz but the 2008 year ended at 957mm, well above average.
A good result. All the whites were off and the wait on the reds was interrupted by 90mm of rain in the last 6 days of January. There was another 30mm on the 4th February and then fine weather to get the sugars up. Just to make certain all fruit went across the sorting table.
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| Don't Pay: $150
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WBW Rating: 96/100
Closure: Stelvin
Region: Hunter Valley NSW |
Winemaker: P J Charteris
Drink now until: 2035
Alc/Vol: 13.5 %
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