Hewitson Cask 66 Shiraz 2023

Mattinson review of Hewitson Cask 66 Shiraz 2023.

Hewitson Cask 66 Shiraz 2023
$450, 13.5% alcohol, cork, Barossa Valley.

The Hewitson winery is at 66 Seppeltsfield Road, hence the 66 name. This wine is from a vintage that was the coolest (temperature-wise) of the past decade. It’s a velvety wine with clear complex inflections and more than enough fruit to satisfy, without being anywhere near overdone. Indeed the flavour profile here has more than a little intrigue to it. Dried herbs, soy, anise, sweet plums, iodine and smoked meat characters all contribute. The iodine notes are particularly apparent, in a positive sense. The tannin feels as though it’s going to play an assertive role but then sinks straight down into the belly of fruit; always a good sign. This wine is at one with itself. It’s complex, so be warned. But the quality here is excellent. 95 points.

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Campbell Mattinson is the former Chief Editor of Halliday, and is the founder of The Winefront. He’s authored six books, has won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year award twice, and has been a journalist since 1987. He is also a commercial photographer.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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