By Rick Allen, The Newcastle Herald
The sign by the side of the road is succinct but powerful: ‘Best Red of Show 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024′. It’s at the entry to the De Iuliis cellar door in central Pokolbin, and refers to their recent Hunter Valley Wine Show results. And if you’re wondering what went wrong in 2023… they were runners-up to Margan Wines’ superb Timbervines Shiraz.
So let’s make it official: any discussion these days about the Hunter Valley’s leading shiraz must have the De Iuliis label in the mix somewhere. Four wins and a second in five years say so.
And when you’re up with the pedigree of Brokenwood Graveyard, the handful of Tyrrell’s Sacred Sites wines, Mt Pleasant’s Maurice O’Shea and of course, Andrew Thomas’s reds among others, the shiraz competition is red hot.
Yet for all that, winemaker Mike De Iuliis concedes he still has a way to go. “It takes time to build a legacy, which is what I’m trying to do,” he said. “I believe my Limited Release Shiraz is up there with the Hunter’s icon reds, but it can take decades for the consumers to recognise a wine’s consistency and quality. Who know, hopefully my kids will one day be drinking one of my aded reds and people will be recognising them for what good wines they are.”
The turning point for De Iuliis – and by that, I mean when the flood of trophies and gold medals started in earnest – was 2017. “I tasted these Tyrrell’s wines that had swept the pool with trophies, and the ting that stood out was how light they had been with their oak,” he said. “The wines seemed so bright and fruit-forward. So I followed their lead and let the fruit do the talking.”
And the rest, as they say in the classes, is history. He’s also been kicking goals outside the winery one the show judging circuit, culminating in being named the incoming Chair of Judges at the Sydney Royal Wine Show.
However you look at it, it has been a successful few years. His cellar door offers a vertical tasting of four Limited Release Shiraz – the 2009, 2014, 2016 and 2019 – to highlight their quality and ageing potential.
For me, while the ’09 was food, the others were exceptional – the 2014 still youthful and pretty, the 2019, from a hot year, opulent with licorice and florals… delicious! Yet despite the success of his Limited Releases, it may be an unassasuming blend – his Shiraz Touriga – that has created the biggest stir. There is hardly a year goes by where it isn’t winning something.
If all that sounds appealing, give them a try. Just look for the sign.
