Hewitson Old Garden Vineyard Mourvèdre 2023

A special wine from a special vineyard planted in 1853 which has been tended by members of the Koch family across three centuries. Today, there are just eight rows left. This is a privilege to taste and enjoy because it is mighty enjoyable! Old vines might become quite stingy in yield, but the intensity and complexity of flavour they produce is off the charts. Has a scent that takes you to a garden, an English garden with notes of lavender, violet, briar, bush and gum leaf. Layered in between are black fruits, plum, chocolate, cinnamon, clove, allspice, liquorice, black pepper, leather . . .  I could go on, it’s that complex. The more you smell and taste, the more is revealed. As it opens up and embraces the air, it becomes fully formed, no angles, no vinous hairs out place, it’s seamless, delivering a deep rich but beautifully detailed flavour in a dense, flowing style. Retains a firm structure with firm tannins presiding with good grip to close. Will age a treat.

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