Tim's Ravings

There has been much debate lately in Mudgee Winemaking circles about trying to describe the style of our red wines. 

The debate has been spurred by continued frustration over the generally low level of promotion Mudgee wines. I must confess to finding the debate a little odd for while I agree we could all certainly be doing better in terms of promoting Mudgee’s wines, I don’t see any ambiguity over the style of our red wines in particular.

For me, the style is unique, transparent and obvious. Seen in wine line-ups from all Australian regions, Mudgee sticks out as clearly as a competent Minister in the NSW Government.

It’s the tannin, stupid. They are fine, prominent, lengthy and smooth. I would only use the word silky for them as aged wines. Try a bottle of Huntington Estate 1993 Shiraz next to anything else and you’ll see what I mean. (BTW, I’m serious, drop me an email and I’ll send you a bottle for $30, no kidding.)

These tannins come from our unique climate. We are relatively north and therefore don’t receive long days during the autumn. We are at altitude so we get cool nights that help preserve acids, tannins, flavours and all those things structurally necessary for building a long-lived wine. We get good storms in spring which get the vines off to a good start and dry autumns which allows full ripeness to develop.

And there is one other thing; we wine makers are all small wine producers so are producing wines to our own food-loving palates. We are not trying to get big jammy flavours that fall apart after a few years in the bottle, we want wines that will stand the test of time and that can be drunk with strong provincial flavours.

It is worth buying a case of excellent Mudgee red wine - drink a bottle every year, next to a Barossa red and a wild rabbit stew. Let me know in 12 years what you reckon. I’ll give your money back on the 93 if you disagree with me.