Wine Feature: Meerea Park Wines

With Paul Ippolito

Meerea Park is a boutique family run (by two brothers - Rhys and Garth Eather) winery in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. I have been really impressed with the quality, consistency and value for money that their wines offer over the whole range for a number of years now and especially the passion and commitment of the Eather brothers. 

It was therefore timely for me to try out some of their current release wines, particularly their reds, and share my thoughts with you.

Meerea Park Wines focuses on getting the best from their various individual vineyard grapes for which each tranche has its own individuality and expression, reflecting their respective piece of what the guys call Hunter “terroir”. The wines in turn reflect this individuality via careful hand crafting through the work of their respected winemaker, Rhys Eather (and director) who in turn attributes his expertise and influence to his time spent in Europe and in particular the Rhone Valley in France.

Having said this, local history is also very important and integral to Meerea Park Wines and the Eather brothers can trace their connection to land and place in the Hunter Valley back to the 1850's through Alexander Munro, Rhys’ great-great-grandfather who was one of the area's largest and most successful winemakers. His influence through and down generations has obviously had an impact upon what Meerea Park represents today.

Indeed Meerea Park's success and its ensuing high reputation have made it a shining star boutique wine producer both in the Hunter Valley and throughout Australian wine circles in a relatively short period of time. The high quality of the wines, their reasonable prices and relatively limited supply have made people sit up and take notice, and the accolades, awards and acclaim have quite deservedly flowed to Rhys and Garth Eather.

I asked Sales and Marketing Manager, Garth Eather (the other director), what the future holds for Meerea Park and he said that their goal is to make it into "one of the Hunter Valley's Rolls Royce wine producers". Their commitment is squarely on continuous improvement and a "qualitative approach to winemaking that involves re-investing in the product, for example with new oak, and constantly developing it rather than any grander ambitions of being the Hunter's largest producer". 

Clearly the focus is on a tight, well run, focussed wine operation producing top quality individual vineyard hand crafted wines.

When asked to describe the 2006 vintage, Garth Eather was cautiously optimistic - saying "so far, so good". His early picks are the whites with the Semillon which is "really good", the Verdelho which is "very varietal" and the Viognier which Garth describes as "the best ever". 

He was a bit more guarded with the outlook for the reds and particularly the Shiraz, glad that it was all picked before the rain set in, but said it is too early yet to call and that he and Rhys liked to wait 12 months or so with their reds to make any pronouncement.

So here are my tasting thoughts on some of the current range which I commend to you and are all available from the Boutique Wine Centre in Broke Rd, Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley.

Epoch Semillon 2005: There is just something so spot on about 2005 vintage Semillon from the Hunter Valley. And Meerea Park have capitalised on this by producing this stunning unwooded Semillon. Brilliantly mid straw in colour, the citrus lemon abounds in orchard loads from the glass. Fresh and lively - uplifted and fragrant. A lovely smooth citrine finish ensues - lingers and provides a refreshing yet well rounded light to lean bodied style of Semillon. 

Try with grilled perch fillets and enjoy over the next 5-6 years. Around $19.

Cabernet Merlot 2003: Dark blackish deep purple fruit. Lovely liqueur spicy cassis fruit and dark ripe plum aromas. Concentrated and luscious in character. Vibrant and fresh - quite lively acidity. Well rounded and soft on the finish - a certain silkiness ensues. Fine tannins and good alcohol - well balanced and with hints of spicy oak. 

Try with spaghetti puttanesca. Drinking now and over the next 5 plus years. A very good easy drinking wine and well priced at around $23.

Shiraz Viognier 2004: Deep dark purple. Earthy in a Hunter Valley sort of way. Vibrant and emanating in blueberry, blackberry and plum fruit. The Viognier is almost indiscernible on the nose. Well integrated oak and good fine (but firm) tannins make this an each way bet in terms of drinking now and also later. Seamless with a long finish - this is easy drinking.

Overall a well blended and structured Shiraz to have now and over the next 4-5 years. Have with veal parmigiana. About $19.  

Terracotta Shiraz 2003: This is the benchmark wine in the Meerea Park portfolio. Violet ripe plum in colour, it is still well in its youth. The fruit emits a lovely fresh deep sour cherry, raspberry and liquery blackberry filled nose. An impressive vibrant and intense wine follows. Persistent, distinct and concentrated fruit flavours flow - think spicy fruit, raspberry as well as cherries and blackberries with a savoury edge to them. A touch of Viognier has been added and a fragrant essence of violets is detectable. While medium bodied and full flavoured - this is a more elegant and structured wine than previous vintages. 

The fine tannins and well integrated oak should see it age at least 7 plus years. Try it with a grilled rump steak. Around $55.

The Aunts Shiraz 2004: Decant your reds - especially your young ones - for as little as an hour - trust me, you will notice a difference. This is a youthful crimson purple wine. Deep dark sour cherries abound in its aromas. A hint of earthiness and game character also ensues. Deep-seated intense blackberries flow after a few moments. The alcohol is noticeable, the cedary oak is less so. The palate is all blackberry and plums - quite a meaty texture with a savoury edge of finish. This has the hallmark of a great Hunter red but it needs time. 

Drinking now, but will improve for drinking over the next few years and peak in about 7 plus years. Good value at around $26. 

www.MeereaPark.com.au

Paul can be contacted by email at Paul_Ippolito@hotmail.com where you can also request to be placed on his mailing list for his wine newsletter.

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