Tyrrell's Wines

NSW Wine Uncovered - Sunday Telegraph - James Halliday
95 Points

Is a little more open knit than the Belford, showing riper lemon fruit and a little more straw, the palate with more weight and generosity at this stage; almost juicy on entry. It tightens up with a touch of lemon sherbet on the finish.

Selected as one of the Best of the Best by Variety - James Halliday
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95 Points A little more open knit than the Belford, showing riper lemon fruit and a little more straw; the palate shows more weight and generosity at this stage of its evolution; almost juicy on entry, the palate seems to wind up and tighten and leaves the impression of lemon sherbet to conclude.

The Independant Consumer's Guide to Fine Wines - Robert Parker
April 2010

2004 was a special vintage for Hunter Semillon and late / museum releases like the 2004 HVD Semillon are well worth seeking-out. Don’t let the modest 10% alcohol fool you – this is an intense powerhouse on the nose of stubbornly youthful lime juice and lemon tart developing into chopped nuts, waxed paper and white pepper. With crisp acidity and wonderfully nervous tightness, this is light bodied and long in the finish with minerals and lots of citric fruit. Drink now to 2020.

GQ Australia - Ben Canaider
1 May 2010

This is a single vineyard white wine. Single vineyard wines are considered impressive because of the way they can reflect the nature of one particular piece of earth. Over time, winemakers notice that certain vineyards make special wine and this is certainly the case with this six-year-old softer semillon from the Hunter.

Winewise -
February 2010

A marvellous example of a Hunter semillon that is just beginning to show some form. The early signs of bottle age are there but this wine is still youthful and will continue to improve for a decade. Excellent value.

Illawarra Mercury -
4th March 2010

From the Hunter Valley winery that has made an art form of making super semillons. This vintage, with its floral notes on the nose, delicate lemon fruit flavours, toasty, honeyed characters, zippy acidity and crisp, dry finish, has already picked up four trophies and five gold medals.

Parramatta Advertiser - Rick Allen
17 February 2010

Tyrrell's top semillon is their renowned Vat 1, which is designed for long term cellaring. This single vineyard wine can handle the cellar too - hey, it's already five years old - but is much more welcoming in its youth. This is stunning. A multiple gold medal winner, it's starting to pick up some honeyed complexity to add to its vibrant lemony tang. Outstanding, and still as fresh as a daisy.

Sunday Telegraph -
7 February 2010

Extended bottle age has delivered a gem of a Hunter Valley white that ticks all the boxes.

West Australian -
23 January 2010

Multi-gold and trophy winning wine. Wonderful example of this distinctive style. It's only just starting to show some toasty development, but such is hte fruit quality and acid, this still has many years ahead of it. Slightly lemony with a little grassiness. Beautifully precise and long. Check out specialist wine stores. 95/100

www.gismondionwine.com - Darryl Weinbren
25 January 2010

Nutty, grassy, grapefruit, quince, lemon, passion fruit, slate, nectarine skin aromas. Fresh, crisp, delicate, round, slightly oily palate. Passion fruit, slate, grapefruit, nectarine, lime, nutty, lemon zest flavours. Fine delicacy and freshness with some bottle age with lanolin and cashew on the finish. A bit more texture than the young stuff.

Delicious - Ralph Kyte-Powell
February 2010

Made from Hunter semillon grown on Tyrrell's century-old HVD vineyard, this five-year-old offers the best of both worlds - amazing freshness in its crisp lemon and straw-like characters, along with a light tough of honeyed, toasty age to add interest. A classic that will only improve further in the bottle.

Chris Shanahan website - Chris Shanahan
11 January 2010

These individual vineyard wines express subtle shades of the idiosyncratic Hunter semillon style. The wines are low in alcohol and tending to lemony austerity when young. But with age they soften and the palate fills with delicious honeyed and toasty flavours – without losing the crisp, fresh acidity that attenuates the flavour. Thanks to the screw cap there are no caveats in recommending these just-released near-six-year-olds (a hit and miss affair in the days of cork). They’re in beautiful condition with shimmering lemon-green colour, stunning freshness and appealing early maturation aromas and flavours – and they’ll age for many more years. These are simply extraordinary.

Drinks Trade -
January 2010

With an impressive array of medals adorning its neck, the 2004 HVD Hunter Semillon lives up to the reputations this region promises with its semillon. The youthful floral fruit develops 'biscuity' characters with age, while the palate is generally softer bodied with softer acids than the Vat 1 or the Belford Semillon. Enjoy now.

Winewise -
December 2009/January 2010

A marvellous example of a Hunter semillon that is just beginning to show some form. The early signs of bottle age are there but this wine is still youthful and will continue to improve for a decade. Excellent value.

Winestate -
October 2009

Excellent example of a pure Hunter semillon. Lifted and complex nose, smelling of honeyed lemon rind and cut hay. Creamy in the mouth, with genuine varietal flavours ageing beautifully.

Wine100 -
September 2009

With an amazing hue - even more green than the 2009 Vat 1 right now - this wine has hit a delightful point in its evolutionary journey, maintaining the fresh minerality of youth and layering over it the roast nuts, lemon butter, lanolin and toast of maturity.

The Age - Jane Faulkner
22 August 2009

A lanonlin character is often seen in Hunter Valley semillon - it's in this exhilirating wine alongside a core of pristine fruit, lemon pith and zest, very linear with bright acidity that makes the wine moreish.

Style - Debbie Southern
December 2007

Chris Tyrrell, 24, is a fifth generation of the Tyrrell family dynasty. He began winemaking at the tender age of 17, under the guidance of his grandfather, Australian winemaking icon Murray Tyrrell, who guided many of his fellow winemakers. Tyrrell's, which celebrates 150 years in 2008, won three awards for its 2004 Tyrrell's HVD Semillon, including the Tyrrell Family Trophy for the best 100 percent Hunter Valley dry white wine.

Courier Mail - Mike Frost
16 October 2007

Tyrrell's 2001 HVD Semillon: A lovely example of aged Hunter semillon, this has citrus, straw and honey characters on the nose and palate with a mineral acid backbone. Try it now with seafood, pork, chicken or game birds or cellar for another three to five years.

Winestate -
December 2009

Waxy lemon zest bouquet and lively semillon fruit on the palate showing a herbal edge and finishing with some residual sugar sweetness on the end. A keeper.

Winestate - Winestate
1 January 2009

Deliciously deep golden crowd pleaser with plenty of rich, honeyed fruit showing a vanillin-like edge as if it's been in oak. Another one that has years of cellaring potential.

Adelaide Advertiser - Adeladie Advertiser
26 November 2008

From the stable that produces the famed Vat 1, this single-vineyard offering is half the price and delivers brilliantly. Reserved at first in the nose but powerful background aromas welling, some smokiness and hints of age developing, then classic bracing acidity with lemons, apples and pineapples in the depths and a powerful finish. Smart.

Australian Gourmet Traveller - Australian Gourmet Traveller
September 2008

A blindingly good semillon. Very youthful, with a shy mineral, struck-flint aroma and a hint of slate. Intense lemony fruit dominates the mid-palate with heaps of charm and zest. Great flavour and balance.

Travel & Living - Travel & Living
July 2008

Tyrrell's have more expensive white wines, but say this is one of the best single vineyard wines they make - a classic Hunter semillon. Relatively high in alcohol (11%) but with glorious flavours and crisp acidity, it is just starting to show some honeyed/baked bread characters. A wine for the long haul. Drink with freshly shucked oysters.

WBM - WBM
May 2008

This is a HVD vintage to get into over the next few years, with a fleshy stone fruits mid-palate, structured by excellent minerally acidity which runs through its length. There are nuances of dried herbs, spice and lemon along the way, with great fruit weight and poise.

Sydney Morning Herald - Ralph Kyte-Powell
27 May 2008

Made from century-old vines, this is a classic Hunter Valley semillon. It's still youthful but quietly complex and has honey, citrus, straw and sourdough aromas of great savoury charm. It's developing richness and roundness but it's still fresh, long and fine. Now to five years plus. 96/100

Winestate - Winestate
1 April 2008

A lighter style developing nicely. Delicate fruit lift to the nose and crisp lemon flavours.

Canberra Times - Canberra Times
13 February 2008

Wines like this are among the best whites in the world. Lean, and difficult to come to terms with initially, they just get better. With age, grapefruit and lemon tart flavours soften into delicious toast and honey, while they retain their youthful zest for a decade or more. Perfect with natural oysters.

Winewise - Winewise
February 2008

Fresh and grassy, with some honeyed notes showing through. Very restrained, but has length and power. A much better bottle than that reviewed last issue. Such is life with corks.

Winestate - Winestate
February 2008

A very good wine indeed. Beautifully developed - all toasty and biscuity but there is still some remarkably fresh melon fruit showing through on both nose and palate. Has a long life ahead yet.

Coffs Coast Advocate - Max Crus
December 2007

Serious stuff for long, lingering lunches with fast flowing rivers and conversations. 9/10.

Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine - Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine
1 November 2007

At six years young, this is amazing value. The only drawback is that they still used corks in 2001. Light yellow, it has a straw-like, mineral, stony aroma. The palate is tight, refined and dry, zesty and freshly acid but not tart. Needs fish.

Qantas The Australian Way - Qantas The Australian Way
September 2007

Hunter semillon undergoes a remarkable transformation with age. It develops a toasty butteriness independent of any oak. From one of the best vineyards in the Hunter, the HVD smells of honey and lemongrass, and it's long and savoury.

Winestate Magazine - NA
August 2007

"A very good wine indeed. Beautifully developed - all toasty and biscuity but there is still some remarkably fresh melon fruit showing through on both nose and palate. Has a long life ahead yet." 5 STARS

Life Weekly - Paul Ippolito
24 July 2007

Tyrrell’s Single Vineyard HVD Semillon 2001 "This is classic Hunter aged Semillon, showing the way it should with the benefit of time. Straw, lemon citrus, limes and ripe apples along with a certain nuttiness and slight toastiness. Well developed and well melded with citrus flavours on the finish. A glorious Semillon.”

Newcastle Herald - John Lewis
6 June 2007

Tyrrell’s Single Vineyard HVD Semillon 2001 “Andrew Spinaze is Hunter Winemaker of the Year and this wine is one of the reasons why. It is pale straw and has lime zest scents. Fine, elegant lemon flavour displays on the front of the palate and spice, sherbet and developing honey and toast characters join in on the middle palate. Lean, mineral-edged acid refreshes at the finish.” 5 stars

Uncorked, Sun Herald - Sally Gudgeon & Ralph Kyte-Powell
3 June 2007

Tyrrell’s Single Vineyard HVD Semillon 2001 “HVD (Hunter Valley Distillery vineyard) is one of the four best vineyards in the Hunter due to its aspect and sandy soils. This latest bottle-aged release is exceptional. Complex aromas of toast, lemongrass and honey lead onto a palate with impressive breadth of flavour, which finishes long and dry.” 5 stars