Tyrrells Vat 9 Shiraz 2022
The Wine
97 Pts Halliday's Wine Companion ‘This wine upholds its regal status as one of the finest reds from the region. Multilayered and serious, you'll find concentrated flavours laced within a velvety frame. The palate is commanding with its assertive intensity and its plush, expansive nature. You'll see blood plums, crushed sage, mulberries and wet soil. There's also some cracked cacao nib, pure blueberry and earthy rhubarb compote. The grapes are sourced from the best parcels from Tyrrell's Ashmans property. Pure class.’
96 Pts James Suckling ‘The flagship. Perhaps overlooked, due to the commercial obsession with the single vineyard wines, a recent phenomenon. To do so is the drinker's loss, for this is exceptional. Alpine spruce, licorice root, blue and red-fruit allusions, with flecks of mint providing lift and verve. The coddled warmth of polished leather. Lovely stuff, defined by the long-stretch tannins, a manifest from a meld of older vine sites. Typically Hunter mid-weighted and savory. Drink or hold, but best after 2030. Screw cap.’
96 Pts Huon Hooke ‘Brilliant deep purple-red colour; red berry, bacon-fat, raspberry and pepper aromas, bright and fresh on palate, intense and above all supremely elegant, medium bodied and focused, long and intense but also subtle and refined. A great example of the medium bodied elegance of classic Hunter shiraz.’
95+ Pts Gary Walsh ‘Pretty, perfumed, dark red fruit, a little spice, a light dusting of vanilla cocoa. Medium-bodied, composed and flavoursome, cool clear acidity, tannin is there adding gentle grip, kind of a powdery/chalky texture here, and the finish is long with fragrance, fine grip and a sort of cranberry acidity. It’s quite a delicate wine, and I reckon it will be terrific with some bottle age. Superb.’
The Details
Variety - Shiraz
Country - Australia
Region - Hunter Valley
Extra - Screw Cap
Year - 2022
Volume - 750mls
About the Wine Maker 
One of the most successful family wineries, a humble operation for the first 110 years of its life that has grown out of all recognition over the past 45 years. Vat 1 Semillon is one of the most dominant wines in the Australian show system and Vat 47 Chardonnay is one of the pacesetters for this variety. Its estate plantings include over 100ha in the Hunter Valley and 26ha in Heathcote. In ’17 Tyrrell’s purchased the 13.5ha Stevens Old Hillside Vineyard on Marrowbone Road; 6.11ha are planted to shiraz, including a 1.1ha block planted in 1867, the balance planted in 1963, notably to shiraz and semillon. There are 11 blocks of vines older than 100 years in the Hunter Valley and the Tyrrell family owns 7 of those blocks. JAMES HALLIDAY
