"so another year is over and new one just begun"... Not that I need and excuse to buy more wine but with our annual New Years celebrations upon us and not a lot in the cellar in the bubbles department, I was on a mission to find a suitable wine to ring in the new year with.

Most normal people would have probably just called into their favourite bottle shop or off licence, but with the beautiful Hunter Valley on my door step why not go straight to the producers and see what's on offer.

My search began by heading out to the Broke Fordwich region and visiting Catherine Vale vineyard, I had been here back in April during the Little bit of Italy in Broke festival and thought to come back when the taste buds were not quite so tired.

Catherine Vale

Catherine Vale is located on Milbrodale Road just west of Broke, Its cellar door and vineyard are nestled against the side of an imposing hill that boarders the Wollimi National park down a gentle slope and a Northerly aspect. What initially struck me back in April was the view both on approach, surrounded by vines and framed by the 'mountain' and by the vista from the cellar door across the flats towards Broke and the Broken Back Range beyond. I was greeted by Wendy who is one of the owners of this wonderful vineyard and we proceeded to review the wines currently on offer.

The Catherine Vale vineyards are planted with a nod to standard hunter varietals Semillon and Chardonnay, but where this producer really stands out in my book is their commitment to the emerging Italian varietals, with plantings of Arneis, Dolcetto and Barbera all varieties from the Piedimonte region of Northern Italy.

Whilst there were no bubbles on offer I was pleasantly surprised by Arneis, as I savoured the aroma of the wine in the tasting glass. Wendy educated me on this variety and its origins. It displays very similar character to that of cool climate Savigon blanc showing citrus, tropical (Passion fruit) and floral notes on the nose with Passion fruit and Lyche on initial approach and with a long finish and balanced acid, Wendy indicated that with good cellar conditions a further 2 years was possible but is more a drink now style. This is deffinately a wine to explore further.

Marsh Estate

With no luck for bubbles at my first stop, I turned towards home. As I was passing through Hermitage (a sub region of the lower hunter) I was struck by a bolt of whimsy, a semi regular stop of mine is an other small producer Marsh Estate, located on Deasys road this winery distinguishes itself from its neighbours in two ways.

1) all the wines are made from grapes grown on the estate, so available volumes are reflective of the conditions at the time of the vintage

2) the vineyards are not irrigated and are planted with only 5 varieties; Semillon, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot

According to the Marsh Estate web site the vineyard was planted in 1971 with its first vintage being released in 1978.

As I have said this visit was really just a whim, a whim I knew was going to be good but non the less a whim. I was met on arrival to a quite cellar door a rare event in my experience but one that is most welcome. Andrew assisted me through a tasting of a selection of wines, and I noticed that the bubbly search would end here as there on the list was a 2007 Cremant.

We commenced our journey with a short vertical tasting of the Estate Semillon's, as is some times the case the wine maker may choose to separate specific parcels of grapes in the vineyard during harvest, this is usually done to develop a specific style of wine or to enable characteristics of the wine to be emphasised during ferment.

Both Semillons the 2014 Poppy's Maverick and the 2014 Holly block Semillon show great potential for aging in the bottle but as young wines had a distinct difference in the palate. The Poppy Maverick displayed a much fuller mouth feel with emphasis on slightly more tropical fruits than the more citrus focus of the Holly's more traditional Hunter Semillon style, which while not unpleasant can make it a little difficult for some to approach the style at this age. In contrast the 2007 Holly block Semillon was beginning to give glimpses of this wines potential for 'liquid gold' but still retained its youthful appearance.

Continuing my tour through the wine list I sampled the Vat R Shiraz next, in my discussion with Andrew I recalled a Vintage port I had purchased some time ago and was curious as to whether he had done an more since. Regretfully the answer was no but this was the next best thing in his book, how could I go wrong! the vat R on taste was from the 2013 vintage which from memory was a wee bit damp during February and March when these grapes were ready for harvest. Never the less this wine displayed some fine characters with a mix of tobacco and new leather on the nose and chocolate/cherry on the palate with firm tannins and a long finish and would definitely cellar well or if you could not wait that long would reward drinking now.