Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz 2024

This has long been the Hunter Valley’s most iconic red and this release continues with the standard of excellence that has been established over many vintages. The wine receives a three-day cold soak before a fermentation for the best part of a week, and then sees time for maturation in French oak, 15% which is new. It is from vines that are now fifty-six years of age. The immediate impression that this vintage provides is that it will be one of the longest lived of the series. Definitely a Graveyard for the long haul. A vibrant blood red with a pale crimson rim, this is concentrated and focused with the nose offering aromas of truffles, dried herbs, plum pudding, charcuterie, animal hides, black fruits, wild raspberries and coffee grinds. It is already exhibiting early signs of the complexity which will surely build over time. The wine is finely balanced, and it maintains its intensity for the full length. A creamy texture, the wine lifts on the palate. There is great length here, through to the silkiest of tannins.  Still youthful, the more time one can give it in glass, and bottle, the better. It will easily provide pleasure for the next twenty-five to thirty years and leaving it in the cellar for the next five to eight years before opening will not be the worst idea anyone’s ever had.  A superb Graveyard.