The Wines of Cessnock

White woollies gambol cover the lion dozing at Brokenback; fierce summer breath of the tropics not far to the north; lazy hum of the cicadas; sometimes the tail lash of a Coral Sea cyclone; these scarcely hint of a great wine area. And yet, the wines, like great ones anywhere, are only just made, each vintage; dodging most years, between disasters of one kind or another; to emerge in the glass, as one of the marvellous gifts of capricious nature.

The white table wines of the Greater Cessnock area (which comprises most of what is now called the lower Hunter Valley, winewise) are unique in the world, whether made by open fermentation and matured in old oak casks by traditionalists, or gem-polished in steel tanks by trained oenologists. The area bouquet and flavour are perfect foils for the Semillon grape character, with devotees of Traminer, Chardonnay, Blanquette, Marsanne, Aucerot, White Hermitage and others proclaiming the virtues of their selection; picked early so that they are acid and light bodies, or later, so there is a fuller flavoured and softer wine. All are distinctive, to connoisseur and beginner alike, in any line-up of the world’s whites, and most rank them among the top.

The reds are outstanding in so many ways; here again, a district flavour gives the regional Red Hermitage grape an additional interest, with superb Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir wines in many years, influenced as in other great areas, by the climate of the growing season. In the Cessnock zone it starts in Spring, August, and September of one calendar year, and comes to ripe fruit during February and March of the next year. Europeans tend to get confused with our “two year” vintage, because all their grape cycle in the one calendar year.

No less fascinating than top wines from a virtually subtropical climate, are the people who grow the grapes and make the wine. Unfortunately, some of the history of the Greater Cessnock area available to a student like the writer, is hearsay. Some are in a position to question its accuracy, others get emotional about omissions. Is the effort really worth while? It is for the reader to decide, bearing in mind the dimensions of the sources of information. Even today with many generations behind some of the old families, there can be defined, by talking tot he oldies and reading the books, a variety of contributions from several cultures.