Thomas Wines 2021 Shiraz release

I am very excited to announce the highly anticipated official release of our full range of 2021 vintage Shiraz, Saturday 13th May.

After the disappointment of a significantly reduced production from the 2020 vintage, I’m pleased to report that we are back to the (almost) full suite of all our favourite labels this year. I’ve provided a brief summary of my thoughts on the 2021 vintage, as well as links to some information on all the new vintage wines below.

For those of you who like a ‘sneak preview’ of our wines prior to release, we have organised a series of nine “shiraz-amatazz’ events around the country, starting in Newcastle on the 27th April and concluding in Pokolbin on the official release date 13th May.

Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane – we’ve also got you covered, and the chefs at each venue have designed a fantastic menu to perfectly complement the wines.

If you can’t get to one of our dinners, we also have a virtual tasting via zoom (with specially prepared 100mL samples of each wine delivered to your door) set down for Friday 12th May. My good mate Mike Bennie will be again joining me as co-host to discuss the vintage and the wines.

I look forward to seeing you at one of our events, online or next time you visit our Cellar Door.

Cheers,
Thommo
 

After four consecutive years of drought, the skies certainly opened up from about February/March 2020, delivering 1050mm of rain during the 2020 calendar year which is well over our 760mm long-term average. With bud bust pretty much on cue (last week of August), it was of the utmost importance to be diligent with vineyard management to ward off any
potential issues with downy/powdery/botrytis through the growing season right through to harvest.

If ever there was a vintage to keep an eye on potential crop levels, 2021 was it. Most of the vineyards from which we source our Shiraz are quite mature and naturally low yielding, however after four years of drought the vines seemed to spring back into action setting a higher than normal crop. To make sure we gave ourselves the very best chance of getting all our Shiraz ripe there was some significant crop thinning around halfway through verasion (first week of January).

The final ripening stage (January/February) is the most critical period during the viticultural growing season in the Hunter, and I am happy to report that we seriously 'dodged a bullet' with the rain backing off significantly, allowing a window of opportunity to get our fruit to an excellent level of phenological ripeness and in great condition.

Stylistically, the 2021 reds have a more ‘gentle feel’ than the previous few warm and dry vintages. The wines sit nicely in the middle of the medium-bodied spectrum – think Hunter River Burgundy with a contemporary twist. One of the things I love about wine is the ‘light and shade’ that the different vintages/seasons provide. The stylistic stamp of the wines produced each vintage tells a story of the season, and I love the bright, aromatic vibrancy and savoury texture of these wines.

When I look at this range of 2021 reds as a group, I am absolutely delighted with the way they have shaped up. Whilst I like to take some of the credit, it is really the outstanding pedigree vineyards, that I am fortunate enough to have in our portfolio, that give these wines their unique quality stamp year after year. Bottled in May/June last year and now having nearly 12 months resting in bottle, each wine displays its own individual/stylistic personality that we know and love, and I am confident that you will be equally impressed.

The wine show results and accolades received so far will give you an indication of how we’ve done with this new vintage, and I could not be more delighted with this suite of wines.

Full disclosure, we did have a couple of casualties… Unfortunately whilst we did pick The Cote in 2021, the wine just did not come up to the quality standard we have come to expect from this vineyard, and was declassified to Two of a Kind and Synergy Shiraz. Likewise, The Trevena Shiraz (DJV) suffered some downy mildew during the growing season and did not have the canopy to ripen the fruit adequately, and we unfortunately deemed this block a write-off in 2021.

So there we have it. A season that was looking quite “challenging” to say the least, has evolved into what history will remember as a pretty bloody good Hunter Shiraz vintage....

For some information and tasting notes on each of the seven new 2021 Shiraz releases, please click on the links below.

2021 Kiss Shiraz
2021 Elenay Shiraz
2021 Sweetwater Shiraz
2021 The Dam Block Shiraz
2021 Belford Shiraz
2021 Synergy Shiraz
2021 Two of a Kind Shiraz