Keith Tulloch Wine (Hunter Valley)

In 1997 Keith began his own company, and produces wines under his own label focussing only on the traditional Hunter Valley varieties - Semillon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Shiraz, and more recently Cabernet Sauvignon - sourcing grapes from only the best Hunter Valley vineyard sites. These wines are hand-made with meticulous care, and epitomise the best qualities of Hunter Valley wine. All wines released have the style, balance, structure and integrity necessary for graceful maturation and cellaring. Winery production is very limited, with a combined output of only 1200 dozen per year. For Keith the greatest reward has been found - making his own wines with a unique stamp of personality, power and integrity - away from the mainstream, and with a individual style and flair. Writes James Halliday (Wine Companion 2002 Edition): .... “I cannot remember being more impressed with an initial release of wines than those under the Keith Tulloch label. The only problem is their small scale of production, like that of Geoffrey Grosset in his early days. There is the same almost obsessive attention to detail, the same ascetic intellectual approach, the same refusal to accept anything but the best.” FORRES BLEND CABERNET WINERY NOTES:  The name of this blend is pronounced “Forr-res”, being the name of a town in Northern Scotland. This town district (including the town of Elgin) was the home of my forefathers before they emigrated to Australia during the mid C19. Cabernet Sauvignon is the predominant variety (86%), blended with Petit Verdot (7%) and Merlot (7%), to create a powerful cellaring style of Bordeaux blend - to show myself (and others) that it can be done in the Hunter Valley. The Cabernet Sauvignon provides immense palate flavours of black-currant and concentrated red-berry, extending with chocolatey richness. Merlot polishes these nuggety Cabernet signatures, adding velvety softness to the length with perfumed notes of blueberry and mint. Petit Verdot contributes tannic tightness and depth, asserting firmness to the wine’s structure. The Petit Verdot is always immense and deep, and adds more to the overall expression of the blend than the Merlot. French and American oak adds subtle vanilla and cinnamon spiciness onto the finish. Like the Kester Shiraz, the Forres blend has been made for cellaring. It will take many years for this tightly structured wine to open out, so decanting is recommended prior to drinking, but cellaring is recommended for at least a decade. CHARDONNAY WNERY NOTES:  "My focus with Chardonnay has been to generate opulence with powerful varietal fruit drive, and long,concentrated richness throughout. This has been achieved by using fully ripe fruit from low yielding vines, expressing concentrated citrus, pear, and melon characters.  Further richness is derived from sophisticated barrel-fermentation and wood aging. The Chardonnay juice is 100% barrel-fermented, adding fine vanilla and spice to the bouquet and flavour. The wine undergoes 100% malo-ferment  and is matured for 11 months on yeast lees with lees-stirring,contributing creamy soft texture and palate length. Only new French oak is used (Seguin Moreau and Dargaud & Jaegle). While this Chardonnay style has creamy softness and balance already, it has been designed to improve with cellaring. Subtle cashew-nut complexity will build on the palate finish over the next three to four years."