Meerea Park

Meerea Park is located in the Hunter Valley. It is owned by the Eather brothers and Rhys is the winemaker. Rhys also makes the wines for several other labels in the Hunter. Last I checked he still made the wines for Glenguin, Ferraris and Mountain X.

Meerea Park is, in my opinion, one of the best wineries in the Hunter. They have a very large range of wines and across the board, they're all very well made. They also do one thing I think is fantastic...They don't release their top semillons until 5 years after vintage. This allows people to have them as they should be rather than far too young where you get pure lemon and acid.

Meerea Park 2006 Hell Hole Shiraz. Made from the Howard Family's "Somerset" vineyard..A brilliant medium bodied Shiraz. Leather, earth, a bit of pepper...red and dark fruits on the nose. It smells like a Hunter. Really good hunter acid, a lot of red fruits on the palate, plum, a bit of herbs, leather...Fine sweet tannins..Very well balanced, fantastic length. This drank wonderfully young, it drinks fantastically with a few years on it. I really do wish they exported more of this style of wine to the US.

Meerea Park 2003 Alexander Munro Shiraz. The Alexander Munro line has become the flagship line for Meerea Park. It tends to be done in a much bigger style of shiraz compared to the Hell Hole. Sourced from the "Ivanhoe" vineyard, this is a relatively big wine for a Hunter Shiraz. Nose has a bit of reduction which I find is typical of this line but this blows off relatively quick. I'd actually strongly suggest decanting this as well... BIG nose of dark fruit, chocolate, leather. This doesn't come across as a typical Hunter nose...more of a cross between Hunter and Barossa. Decent acidity but less coming across than I'd probably like but it could be because the fruit is big..really big. Very ripe, dark fruit. Some spice, some leather, a little bit of earth but not much. If I haven't said it enough, this is really big for a Hunter Shiraz. Tannins are nice and silky. The wine feels like it has years left to go but drinking quite well now. This is actually released now as a Aged Release....This wine is fantastic but the Aged Release price is a bit much...Personally, I think I prefer their Hell Hole line..it is more in line with what I want from a Hunter...but this wine is still excellent.

Meerea Park 2006 Alexander Munro Shiraz. As I mentioned before, this line tends to be made big. This wine has a bit of reduction on the nose but it blows off quickly. Nose of dark fruits, herbs, a little bit of leather..a bit vegetal. Fairly good acid, dark fruits..a bit greeny...A bit of leather. This one seems to be in an odd place right now. After a few hours this starts to get rid of the greenies...Acid is coming out better now, a bit of red fruit along w/ the dark fruit. A bit more leather. I had this over 4 days and it was actually best on day 3 and 4. Fairly certain this wine needs quite a bit more time. Otherwise I would decant this for several hours before drinking.

Meerea Park 2005 Alexander Munro Semillon. This line only gets released 5 years after vintage and I'm really glad they do this. Really good acidity, wonder Hunter semillon aging going on...Honey, toast, lemon. Great depth of flavor...good complexity...very nice finish...

Meerea Park 2006 Alexander Munro Semillon. I've had this several times. The first time, I thought the acidity was good, the last couple of times, it has been a bit flat. I'm not sure if the bottles were oxidized or it was opened too long before trying it (Both were in a public setting). I'm not sure what it was. Nowhere near as developed as I would've expected and nowhere near the acid. I'm not sure if it is just me or if this wine is on the decline.

Meerea Park 2009 Alexander Munro Chardonnay. Made from fruit from the Casuarina Estate, this is actually one of several great Chardonnays to recently come out of the Hunter. I think the change in style from big oaky, buttery, creamy chardonnays has allowed the Hunter to shine. Made without Malo and 40% new French Oak, on the nose you get melon, peach. Really good acidity and purity of the fruit. Has some creaminess but not a lot. The French oak is adding really nice complexity.


As a general overview of the rest of their line...

Terracotta Shiraz. For some reason every single one of these I've had young, I haven't been impressed with. With age though, it becomes VERY nice. The added Viognier integrates fantastically and the wine picks up fantastic complexity.

XYZ Shiraz - First two vintages were very good with the 2007 being fantastic. 2009 is falling more in line with it's price point.

Aunts Shiraz. Made with American Oak, this is very much a Hunter Shiraz but with a bit more vanilla. Really good value....Tends to have really good acidity, a bit of leather...

Terracotta Semillon. This might actually be my favorite Semillon they make...but quantities are really minute. Sells out quickly and near impossible to find. If you like the Tyrrells Stevens Semillon, you will likely like this one as well....