Gundog Estate Rare Game Shiraz 2023

This is the team’s flagship Hunter red and it continues to have as its inspiration, Hunter Burgundy. Younger wine lovers might think someone has lost the plot but decades ago, many top Hunter reds were labelled Burgundy. Whether they resembled the real thing is a debate for another day, but the great examples, like the Lindeman’s 1959 and the astounding pair from 1965, are some of the greatest wines ever made in this country. So the guys are really aiming high here, and they are making some seriously admirable wines as a result. This one comes from the Tinkler’s 48 Block and the famous Will’s Hill Vineyard. The wine spends sixteen months maturing in French puncheons, one quarter new. 20% whole bunches are included. Coming from a stellar vintage for the region doesn’t hurt either. Deep maroon, there are notes of tobacco leaves, herbs, bacon fat and chocolate. A fine structure with good focus, life and length, there are sleek tannins here and impressive balance. An enticing texture, everything is in place for this wine to provide pleasure for the best part of the next fifteen to twenty years. If you want to know what all the fuss is about when old timers go all misty-eyed over Hunter Burgundy, this is a good place to start. And it is about one-hundredth of the cost of one of those ‘65s, even if you could find a bottle.

Ken Gargett

Contributor at Winepilot

Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.

Wine writer and critic