First released in 1962 Tyrrell's Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz has been Tyrrell’s premium red wine.

Over the years, the wine has been sourced predominantly from the original vines on the Four and Eight Acre Blocks with supplementation from other older vineyards. The 4 Acres was planted in 1879 while the 8 Acres was planted just prior to the turn of the 20th century. The soil is a heavy, rich volcanic clay with underlying limestone and good drainage. However, in 2002, Vat 9 has been made solely from the Four and Eight Acre Blocks which you can see on the right hand side as you drive up to the winery.

Winemaker Mark Richardson supplied the following resumé of vintage conditions pertaining to the wines tasted:

1998 - near perfect vintage, good subsoil moisture, warm dry harvest (good reds across the board).
1999 – above average crop levels, some rain made conditions more difficult.
2000 – Very cool ripening period then a hot spell in early Feb increased sugar and acid very quickly.
2001 – Hot January and weekly Feb rain resulted in softer skins and therefore a lighter style.
2002 – Good vintage conditions, red were picked over 3 weeks starting mid Feb. A definitive style decision was made (from this point on) to reduce the blend size by only selecting from the vineyards planted on the rich volcanic ridge around the winery.
2003 – Drought effected low crop year, stress increased intensity.  This year also saw the start of the impact of the new big (2300lt) French oak casks being bought each year especially for Vat 9.
2004 – A warm vintage with the more typical February rain events, resulted in a medium bodied style with very good acid/fruit balance. We continued to focus capturing the subtle regional characters by bringing back the hand bottling line.
2005 – Dry drought conditions producing lower crops on our dry grown old vines. High tannin year.
2006 – Another year with minimal disease pressure allowed us to pick the fruit when we wanted. Newer big wood and minimal handling continued.
2007 – The regime remained the same, but what ended up being the end of a drought cycle left us with a small amount of very concentrated fruit. Our old dry grown vineyards handled the hot dry conditions well but it’s the most stressed I’ve ever seen them in my 15 years

I remember vividly my first visit to Tyrrell's in 1969. Together with some Uni student friends from Brisbane, I rolled up to the winery wanting to taste the Private Bin wines recommended by Len Evans. That's when I met the indefatigable Murray "Flash" Flannigan who was an integral part of the Tyrrell family experience at the winery (and still is!). Murray took us down into the cellar where we sampled the wines out of cask - that was my first encounter with Vat 9 and I have returned to the Hunter almost every year to taste each new vintage. It remains a must buy every year.

The wines for this tasting (and those for the Vat 1 Semillon Vertical) were all drawn from my cellar and were tasted in May 2009 in the following order: 2006-2004, 2003-2001, 2000-1998. I tasted the 2007 separately soon after to complete a 10 year bracket. Vat 9 has had a distinguished record and has justifiably received high accolades from consumers, critics and show judges alike.

This tasting reinforces Vat 9's status as a Hunter icon and indeed one of Australia's top reds. The distinguishing feature of the wine, like Vat 1, is its ageing potential. Vat 9 needs at least 5 years before it really comes together but many of the wines will be long lived, cellaring up to 20 years and beyond in the great vintages. The 1990s are still to reach their peak. The wines have a lightness of body when compared to the full bodied blockbusters from areas like the Barossa. However, they also display savoury, red berry characters as well as hints of black pepper, spice and earth together with a fineness of tannins and, by today's standards, relatively low alcohol levels. [Note also the pH levels of the wines since '04 in the chart below].

Vat 9 is now bottled under screwcap with the 2007 vintage being the first to receive this seal. Prior to this, cork was used and, thankfully, none of the wines in this tasting suffered from TCA. However, if you have any bottles in your cellar, you will almost certainly encounter bottle variation from random oxidation, so your experience may differ from mine.

Not surprisingly, the top wine of the tasting was the 1998, followed closely by the 2006, 2004, 2003, 2005 and 2007 which have many years ahead of them. For current drinking, 2002 and 2000 are right in the zone while the 2001 and 1999 were the only wines to disappoint as detailed in the tasting notes below.

2007 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz This wine exhibits quite concentrated red and black berry aromas, very youthful. The palate is richly flavoured with hints of back pepper, reflecting the vintage conditions, with good structure, good length and slightly firm tannins. Cellar for at least 5 years before opening the next bottle.

2006 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz Tyrrell's produced a number of crackerjack reds in 2006 and the Vat 9 is right up there with the best of them. This wine is fine and elegant with red berry, spicy aromas and very fine tannins and long, long flavours. A wine which also needs further cellaring before any serious drinking occurs.

2005 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz This is a slightly bigger style with rich, spicy blackberry aromas and great depth of fruit but with very finely balanced tannins. The structure of the wine suggests that it should not be tasted again until 2011 or 2012. And yet the wine retains its regional imprint as a medium bodied style.

2004 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz This is another excellent wine and potentially a very long lived wine too. This wine has the tannin structure for extended cellaring before it really hits its straps. It is very youthful at present with an abundance of vibrant red/black berry aromas and flavours as well as a long, savoury finish.

2003 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz This wine is beginning to show what a great Vat 9 is all about. It has enticing aromas of spice and red berries, still youthful, while the palate exhibits attractive savoury characters with finely balanced tannins and great persistence of flavours. It's starting to drink beautifully now but, make no mistake, it has many years ahead of it.

2002 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz This is the wine I will be drinking over the next few years as I wait for the other vintages to peak. The wine has complex aromas of red berries, brambly characters and a touch of earth. The palate is fine and savoury with a lip-smacking vibrancy that carries the flavours to a satisfying, long finish.

2001 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz To quote Bruce Tyrrell: "2001 was a bugger of a red vintage, it rained every Tuesday for about five weeks". That says it all. Age has not treated this wine kindly and, at 12.5º, it has the lowest level of alcohol of all the wines in this tasting. It has what one winemaker describes as "a wet mould/tomato bush character" typical of wet Hunter vintages and I suspect some brettanomyces is present as well.

2000 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz This is another atypical Vat 9 but, in this instance, the very cool vintage has added another (positive) dimension to the line. This wine has drunk well right from the time it was released and reminds me more of Coonawarra than the Hunter. Red berries and spice are its hallmarks together with finely tuned tannins and lingering vibrancy. Great drinking now.

1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz This is another wine that hasn't aged well and, again, the untimely rain during vintage is probably the culprit. The wine has lots of earthy/barnyard/tarry notes and seems quite out of balance.

1998 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz Wow, this is what Hunter shiraz and Vat 9 is all about! Amongst all the complexities of the wine and its seductive savouriness, there is a core of fruit sweetness that persists from start to finish. Temptation needs to be resisted; drink some now but keep cellaring as many bottles as you can. A great vintage and a great wine.

Len Sorbello

Tyrrell's Vat 9 Technical Analysis