This vineyard seems to be my new favourite spot in the Hunter Valley and my most recent visit was equally memorable.

The occasion was the release of the 2014 vintage wines.

Through out the afternoon the gathered friends and family of Bill and Wendy Lawson enjoyed a 4 course lunch with matched wines from the 2014 release, our tasting journey commenced with the Verdelho. This wine represents everything I love of this variety; Citrus, Pear/apple aromas and spice and balanced acid on the palate, this wine was paired beautifully with grilled fig stuffed with Feta and wrapped in prosciutto.

Following this came our second Entrée of gnocchi with burnt butter and Sage mmm, this dish was also excellently paired with the 2014 reserve Chardonnay, I'm not usually a fan of chardonnay but this particular wine I found very enjoyable. The wine was a blend of both barrel fermented and tank fermented juice (all from the same block of grapes), further complexity to the wine has been achieved through lees contact and secondary Malo ferment, it exhibited Hot butter and vanillin characters on the nose with peach and nuttiness on the palate.

The remaining wines of the release were presented with the main course, a smorgasbord of Indian and Mexican inspired dishes.

These wines in no particular order were:

The 2014 Semillon, Arnies and Dolchetto

We were advised by the wine maker that due to late rains in March 2014 the Barbera was deemed unsuitable for harvesting so there was no 2014 vintage.

The Semillon presented typical Hunter Valley style with lemon and citrus nose and high acid on the palate, this was very refreshing after desert of Pavlova and will cellar well for some time.

The Arnies was very similar to the 2013 with citrus/ rockmelon nose and lychee on the palate only paler.

The Dolchetto presented as ruby red, with roses and Turkish delight on the nose, and a light fruit driven palate, definitely a contender as a substitute for Rose'.

Over all the event was a wonderful experience, with good food, good entertainment from the Alma String Quartet and Excellent wines and one that I would be happy to repeat.