Hewitson Barrel 1853 Shiraz Mourvèdre 2021

The top of the Hewitson wine tree is a blend of the best barrel of Monopole Shiraz and the best barrel of the Old Garden Mourvèdre. As if to make the point even more, it is delivered in a heavy, deep-punted bottle. It’s not necessary, the wine speaks beautifully, resolutely, for itself. Barrel 1853 is a wine story built around two solid pillars: power and poise. It’s early days for the wine, it is destined for a long life, but the building blocks are well in place now. Expect a world rich in black fruits, blackstrap liquorice, clove, cinnamon, rosemary, roast meats and charry woodsy notes against a background of firm, well placed tannins to open up in the glass. It will continue to evolve the longer the wine remains open, which is when nuance begins to creep in and be explored. Fruit off old vines bring an incredible concentration of flavour. Here it is magnified. Give it the time it needs and deserves.

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