Gundog Estate Hunter’s Shiraz 2022

Hunter Valley watchers often refer to a modern winemaking take on the region’s two great varieties: Semillon and Shiraz. It’s fair to say that ‘modern’ offers a different expression to the ‘classic’ styles. I think Hunter’s Shiraz 2022 falls into that modern category. Not sure if winemaker Matt Burton agrees, but the discreet use of French oak puncheons for maturation, the clean lines and showcasing of some glorious old vine fruit just shines. And there’s an elegance and approachability right now that makes it so good. Black cherry, plum, anise with plenty of spice lift and earth runs long through this lovely medium-bodied Shiraz. So alluring in both scent and flavour with tannins seemingly barely there such is the distinctive quality of the fruit, the smooth grace of the wine.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic