THE PRODUCER
Three lawyers – including wine writer James Halliday – who became friends over
drinking fine wines, established Brokenwood, in the centre of the Hunter Valley
in 1970, as a weekend hobby farm. The original 4.5-hectare block was planted to
Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon and friends were cajoled into helping during
vintage and pruning in return for good food and wine.

The wines quickly developed a strong following, and six new partners joined in
1978 allowing the purchase of the block adjoining the winery … the Graveyard
Vineyard. Not actually a graveyard but, as with the original Cricket Pitch
vineyard, a plot that was destined by the local council to be the local
graveyard. Planted on deep clay soils the wines showed amazing depth and
concentration from the very first vintage.

The wines’ popularity and subsequent growth in production saw the arrival of a
full-time winemaker, in the early 1980s, along with new equipment, and the
release of a Semillon. Brokenwood continued to expand, taking on more
shareholders and producing wines from vineyards across Australia. Today there
are several outstanding individual vineyard wines in the range, but in terms of
Shiraz, the leader of the pack is the Graveyard Shiraz, a Hunter Valley (and
Australian) classic. Brokenwood also produce an outstanding Semillon, the IRL
Reserve Semillon, which is well worth seeking out.

THE WINE
Brokenwood’s ‘Graveyard Vineyard’ is named after the original intentions for
this site in Pokolbin, Hunter Valley. Here Shiraz is growing in heavy clay
soils, which produces a wonderfully rich and concentrated wine, which then goes
on to be aged in 100% French oak barrels, none of which new. The only Hunter
Valley Shiraz which has made it into Langton’s Classification of Australian
Wine.

INFORMATION
Type:RedVintage:2014
Country:AustraliaRegion:New South Wales
Sub region:Hunter ValleyGrape:100% ShirazStyle:Rich and IntenseSweetness:DryABV:
13%Drinking window:2020 - 2034Size:750mlFood match:Beef and Venison


CRITICS SCORES
We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.