Tim's Ravings

Am I the only one disgusted by the mass slaughter of young red wines in this country?

I see it time and again in wineries and wine shows throughout the land. Wines beaten and stripped of their ageing potential to show well when young. I see young wines lauded for their softness and fruit flavours but further inspection reveals a wine that has been treated heavily with smoothing agents (‘fining’), kept in stainless steel tanks with a giant tea-bag of oak chips inside instead of barrels, then bottled with a few hidden grams of sugar.

The wine is sold to the consumer as hastily as it has been made. It drinks as a fresh, fruity and soft red wine but is too often promoted as an interesting, ‘deep’ wine that will age. It isn’t, and is therefore a con that undermines Australia’s brilliant regional wines that have, in the past decade particularly, made huge strides in recognition for uniqueness, depth and class.

The relentless push by larger wine companies and certain regions to chase short term financial gain undermines the effort by those in the industry more focussed on making and showcasing fine wines that stand the test of time.

I am certainly not saying winemakers should stop making these more commercial styles of wine, but please stop misrepresenting these wines, to consumers and critics in key export markets in particular, as the best of Australia. These wines are commercial wines, not fine wines.

What we do best are classic regional styles, reds from the Barossa Valley, Coonawarra and Mudgee. The best of our regional wines are unique and stylish and stand tall against any other red wines in the world. Huntington Estate has always been committed to producing fine wine, not commercial wine, which will stand the test of time. There are several wines in this newsletter that best illustrate what I am talking about. My personal favourites are the 2014 Special Reserve Shiraz whose evolution as a complex, perfectly structured fruit-driven classic has barely started; and the 2016 Special Reserve Merlot which is the antithesis of the cloying and simple commercial style that has neutered this wonderful variety.

Both of these wines are uniquely Huntington, unmistakably Mudgee and proudly Australian.