Hardy Wines and Accolade Wine Group: A Match Made in Heaven
Australian wines hit America right around the time I started to drink wine with a cork and figured out that I could afford to buy a case of Lindeman’s. About 1.6 million cases were imported in 1995. Today the Australian wine industry is the world’s fourth largest exporter of wine with 750 million liters a year.
I credit Australian wine with beginning my long love affair with the grape. However, along the way what was shipped in by the large wine makers began to lose its luster. Smaller production companies were acquired and some of the brands languished. Luckily, that course is starting to correct.
With the acquisition of Hardy Wines by Accolade Wine Group about 15 months ago, there is a renewed focus on bringing the Nottage Hill and William Hill brands back to the US market. Paul Lapsley, group chief winemaker for the Hardy portfolio wines, came through Dallas to talk and taste about the wines in his portfolio. Lapsley’s been making wines for more than 30 years and has worked at some of the top wineries in Australia after doing several months in Burgundy. Hardy Wines have been made since the late 1870s and are one of the long-time family wine making legacies.
We tried the following wines and they were some of the best value wines I’ve tried in a long time:
- Nottage Hill Chardonnay 2012 – had lots of tropical fruit, peach, nectarine and oak.
- William Hardy Chardonnay 2012 – loved the minerality and acidity of this wine. It was made in a very Old World style with tropical fruit, lemon, vanilla and oak.
- Nottage Hill Pinot Noir 2012 – black cherry, mushroom funkiness, vanilla and herbs. Quite the bargain at under $10.
- Nottage Hill Shiraz 2011 – dark berry, spice, chocolate, licorice and herbs.
- William Hardy Shiraz 2011 – blueberry, plum, blackberry, chocolate and earthiness.
We then moved to the Tintara wines from McLaren Value, which was established in 1861. These wines were from 2010, what has been referred to by many as a stellar year for Australian wine. After trying the 2010 Tintara Cabernet Sauvignon and the Shiraz, seductive and lush are the words that came to mind – especially for the $20 price tag.
The grand finale was the Winemakers Rare Release Shiraz 2008, which was made from the best grapes of three wineries. This was incredible with notes of chocolate, spice, pepper, thin mint Girl Scout cookies (trust me), blackberry, mocha and vanilla. It had miles of depth, power and complexity.
