Today:

More than 4000 hectares planted with vines, producing $200 million worth of wine each year, marketed and sold through approximately 130 different labels and brands nationally and world-wide + through numerous cellar doors throughout the Valley. All ranging in size from the smallest boutique wineries where grapes are handpicked and yields limited every year, to the larger more commercial vineyards with distribution the world over. More than 80% of Hunter wines are produced by the top 20% wineries.

History:

Not discovered by Cook, but lieutenant John Shortland, who more or less stumbled across it while searching for escaped convicts. Initial value to the new colony in the south was a source of timber and coal for the steamships that provided most of the transport for Sydney and its surrounds in those days.

Very first vines to be put in HV soil was believed to have been planted by James Busby in the early 1830's, which in fact makes HV the oldest winegrowing region in Australia. In 1860, HV production had reached 270 000 L (30 000 cases) which for a new industry in a young colony, started by settlers from a non wine-producing county, wasn't bad. In today's terms though, the same quantity is merely the equivalent of a single small HV vineyards yearly production, or about 10% of a larger one.

Wine grapes have been grown and processed for 180 years, but much of that production was focused on fortified wine such as port and sherry, and mostly just sold and drunk locally (In 1956, as much as 85%, today only about 5%). Not until as recently as the 1960s that a larger scale market for unfortified wines (table wines) developed. HV wines reached early world recognition when James King (one of the first settlers to take up a land grant in the valley) won a medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1855 and his most acclaimed variety (the Semillon) was placed on the table of Emperor Napoleon III during closing ceremony. Unfortunately, the story doesn't tell whether the Emperor liked the wine or not, in fact there is no record of him even tasting it, but in a way, I suppose you can say that the invasion of Europe by HV wines had begun...

Over nearly 200 years of trial and error, 2 grape varieties have proved themselves especially suitable for the unique soil and climate conditions in the HV. These are the Black Shiraz and the Semillon, both of which grow particularly well under warm and humid conditions. On the other side of the spectrum, it has been proven too hot for grape varieties such as the Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, whereas varieties such as the Chardonnay, Verdelho, Cabernet sauvignon and Merlot have been more successful. But the Semillon is undoubtedly what has made HV most famous, by many wine critics exclaimed as one of the best in the world. Picked on the green side of full ripeness for high acidity, cold fermented, cleaned out and bottled without any benefits of oak maturation, it is immediately drinkable as a young wine, but after 5-6 years of cellaring (if you can wait that long), they emerge with a beautiful bright golden tinge and a sensational warm and honeyed flavour.

Wine Etiquette    Wine Tasting Basics

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