Description
Hurley Vineyard wraps north to east around the crest of a little volcanic hill in Balnarring on the Mornington Peninsula of Victoria, Australia. Kevin Bell and Tricia Byrnes are immersed in the task of showcasing what their 3 differing single vineyard plots or climats can express. Burgundy clearly inspired them to this endeavour, not to mimic the wines from the Cote d’Or in terms of taste but the ethos of single site expressions, terrior driven wines. Planted in 1998 and 1999 the estate has 3.43 hectares of Pinot Noir across 3 clearly defined climats: Lodestone, Hommage and Garamond.
Kevin says: “Our principles are: organic viticulture, non-irrigation, low yields and true expression of the terroir of a vineyard and the individual climats within a vineyard”.
Hurley Vineyard’s position receives abundant sunshine and free-moving air, yet is well-protected from strong winds by 100 year old pine trees and the surrounding topography. The hill is capped by stony, red-brown earth. This ‘Older Volcanic’ soil type is quick to warm and slow to cool, and retains moisture and drains freely.
Winemaking consists of hand-picked fruit arriving to the winery where grapes are cooled overnight before 100% destemmed whole berries (no whole-bunch) go into 2 ton open top fermenters. Pre-ferment maceration cold soak of approximately one week before fermentation with natural yeasts. Pieage twice a day then post ferment maceration 5 to 7 days vintage dependent. Gravity fed into a basket press then into barrel for aging. Kevin and Tricia are passionately committed to one cooper, Sirugue, based in Nuit St George. Kevin highlights that he loves the fact the staves are air-dried for a minimum of 4 years before they are used for the barrels, giving the wood time to season and low toasting. 1/4 to 1/3 new oak for the elevage of each wine, 20 months approx total aging, no racking at any stage until bottling and under gravity.
Kevin and Tricia were thrilled with the 2021 vintage describing it as a dream season but unfortunately the yields were down 50% on previous vintages! After the anomaly that was the very warm 2019 vintage (producing fuller bodied wines with high alcohol) 2021 has seen the return to Hurley’s classical style in all its glory. Such was the quality of the grapes that no Estate label was made, all fruit went into each single vineyard label – we think all three single vineyard wines are the finest releases we can remember from this top shelf estate.. not sure Pinot can get much better than these!
Hommage is in-between Lodestone and Garamond in almost every way. It is harvested second. Typically, it smells distinctly of ripe plums and the forest floor. It can have the subtle fragrance of flowers. Invariably it tastes of wine gums and jubes. You can always see soft, squishy berries, like mulberries, and firmer ones, like blueberries. The fermenting vats actually smell and taste that way! Hommage tastes more of fruit than earth. It is full and supple in the palate, but not loose. Our emphasis now is more on the freshness of the fruit – the point where the sweetness is balanced by velvety tannins. It is often described as ‘Burgundian’.
Hommage is North East facing and a lot more sheltered than Lodestone from the elements. A very small plot of just over 1 Hectare planted in 1998 & 1999. Kevin and Tricia are quick to acknowledge that this vineyard was made possible from the generosity of Main Ridge Estate who offered cuttings of the G5V15 Pinot clone. They regard Main Ridge as one of the key founding estates of Mornington, hence the title ‘Hommage’.
About the 2021 by winemaker Kevin Bell: “The fruit was harvested by hand on 17 and 18 March 2021, fermented under the action of indigenous yeasts, basket pressed after twenty-one days in vat and bottled in November 2022 after twenty months in barrel (one quarter new). This is deeper ruby. Here on the nose there are black cherries with herbaceous notes of sage and thyme. The palate has complex tastes of black cherries, blood plums, subtle herbaceousness and charcuterie meats. This too is medium bodied and tightly knitted but the fruit is more squishy and the tannins are powdery making the mouthfeel sweater and softer. It has a long finish in the palate with persistent fruit flavours and soft drying tannins. Alc 13.4%.”
RRP $99 **Our Special Price $78.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine**
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