2023 Sweetwater Ridge Shiraz
2023 Sweetwater Ridge Shiraz
A single-vineyard wine from Sweetwater Ridge in the Belford area. This sub-region produces Shiraz with distinctive ‘floral’ violet and potpourri aromatics amongst its red and blue fruited frame.
Every vintage, this wine is a popular favourite amongst our wine club members, and offers extraordinary value for a single-site Hunter Shiraz.
913 dozen bottles were produced, released 17th May 2025.
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Winemaking Overview
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In the Vineyard
Despite the relatively late vintage in 2023, this vineyard is always one of the earlier blocks to ripen, and was hand-picked on the 21st of February.
Located at the very end of Sweetwater Road, planted in 1998 with the 1654 clone of Shiraz, the red/brown loamy soils over limestone found in this area tends to provide a distinctive floral lift and complexity to Shiraz. -
In the Winery
Hand-picked, destemmed, but not crushed, the whole berry fermentation commenced after a 24-hour cold soak. At the end of an eleven-day cool fermentation on skins, the wine was pressed off into a selection of new, one, two and three-year-old premium French oak 300L Hogsheads for maturation. The wine spent 13 months in oak before our final blending decisions, with only the very best barrels going to this wine (and a few to our 2023 Elenay Shiraz blend). Bottled in June 2024 and rested for 11 months prior to release 17th May 2025.
14.5% ABV
94+ Points - Campbell Mattinson (winefront.com.au)
"The Thomas Wines reds are really singing this year. This is a cracking wine. It’s bold, neat, structured and long. It’s ripped with cherry-plum and violet, musk and sweet spice notes, and its earthen characters are dark and ferrous. The real quality ramp comes though on the finish, where it not only bursts forward, but ricochets the tannin out in long expanding chains. Excellent wine. Special wine."
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92 Points - Steve Leszczynski (qwinereviews.com)
"The biggest and darkest of the Thomas Wines Shiraz releases, there is a softer side to this Sweetwater Ridge. Like a face plant into a blueberry pie, this is an impressive medium-bodied delight. The Sweetwater Ridge comes from the Belford subregion of the Hunter Valley. One of the first picked, it's broad with more palate weight than others in the range. Give it a decant and it's absolutely humming. Mulberries, red currants and plums join fine lines of silky milk chocolate and dried thyme. Earthy with some evidence of the ironstone soils it is grown in, it is draped in those fine spices for which the Hunter Valley is known. A beautiful drink that will only develop with more bottle age, and like The Dam Block, this is punching above its $40RRP."
View SourceTasting Notes
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Appearance & Aroma
Impressive deep vivid purple colour
An enticing nose brimming with sour cherry, goji, blackberry and boysenberry fruit. Hints of Sloe gin, pencil shavings, peppercorn, cedar and exotic spices.
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Palate & Finish
The palate follows through with a generous velvet-like texture and fine tannin. Notes of ripe blackberry, plum and fresh dark cherry fruit at the fore with hickory, roast black tea, violets and pepper hints in the background. Very seductive with a long length and a structure that suggests years of cellar worthiness to come.
If you can wait....
WHEN TO DRINK
This wine is drinking deliciously now, but you will be rewarded for giving it medium-term cellaring. Enjoy this wine anytime between 2025 - 2035
The Vineyards
Whilst I have always applied a no compromise, attention to detail approach to my winemaking, I truly believe that 90% of the quality lies in the vineyard. The key to great wine is ‘keeping it simple’ to preserve that potential quality from the vine through to the bottle - Andrew Thomas