Pokolbin Vintners Pokolbin Mountain Dry Red 2023

Pokolbin Vintners Pokolbin Mountain Dry Red 2023
AU$45, 13.5% alcohol, DIAM cork, Hunter Valley.

This is a remarkable project. The wine is grown on 50+ year old Shiraz vines, in the Hunter Valley, up against the same slope of hill (or ‘mountain’) that is also home to Tyrrell’s and Mount Pleasant. The soils here are distinctive purple-red clay over limestone, rich in Permian fossils. According to winemaker Brendan “Kaz” Kaczorowski, “the winemaking has remained deliberately simple and consistent across all vintages to allow the vineyard to speak for itself. Fruit was hand-picked, with 20% whole-bunch fermentation, matured in a combination of 20% new French oak, seasoned French oak and 20% stainless steel to preserve freshness and site expression. Fermentation was carried out using selected yeast. Across all four vintages I have produced from this vineyard, no acidification has been required.” There’s nothing ground-breaking about any of the above but it’s a particularly respectful starting point.

In wine, respect is often the best starting point, particularly when it comes to the land and what you then make from it.

I love this wine. It’s light. It’s fluid. And it’s more-ish. But then, it’s also complex, insistent, deceptively well structured and ever so soft, the latter courtesy of a texture that feels like silt, or light silk. This is elite territory. It tastes essentially of cherries, earth, smoked herbs and woodsy spice notes, the latter inching gently into rosemary and anise. This is not a big wine, and nor does it need to be. Indeed it’s build on (natural) acidity, in the best of ways. But it is a truly beautiful wine, start to finish.

Star is born here. 96 points – Campbell Mattinson.

See also [Pokolbin Vintners Pokolbin Mountain Dry Red 2024]
See also [Pokolbin Vintners Pokolbin Mountain Dry Red 2025]