Meerea Park takes a modern approach to winemaking and can trace their winemaking roots in the Hunter Valley back to the 1850’s when Alexander Munro established the ‘Bebeah’ vineyard at Singleton.
Hunter Valley Accommodation. Check Availability at The Vintry
All the wines are produced from grapes purchased from growers primarily in the Pokolbin area, but also from the Upper Hunter, and as far afield as Young. It is the brainchild of Rhys Eather, a great-grandson of Alexander Munro, a leading vigneron in the mid-19th century; he makes the wine at the former Littles Winery at Palmers Lane in Pokolbin, which was purchased in 2007 and is now named Meerea Park. Exports to Germany, The Netherlands, Hong Kong and China.
The ‘Hell Hole’ label was inspired by the severe drought conditions of the 2003 vintage. The word Pokol (as in Pokolbin) means purgatory or hell in Hungarian and it is believed many an early settler to the area were taken aback by the extreme climatic conditions they faced with temperatures that can range between freezing and 50°c.
The name Pokolbin as legend has it, is derived from the early Hungarian migrant settlers to the area and means ’hot as hell’ or ’hell hole’, referring to the hot, dry and sometimes inhospitable summers that regularly top 45º C.
Fruit for the 2010 vintage wqs sourced from old-vine Shiraz from the Lindemans owned ‘Ben Ean’ vineyard a few hundred metres from The Vintry in De Beyers Road. The fruit, including 30% with stems was fermented in open vats and then transferred into French oak hogsheads of which 40% were new .
After 20 months oak maturation, the wine was then bottled with minimum filtration in December 2011. The 2010 vintage was punctuated by seasonal rain but the ‘Ben Ean’ vineyard was ripe early and the Shiraz fruit was picked at optimum phenological ripeness and clean as a whistle.
The 2010 Meerea Park Hell Hole Shiraz is a vivid crimson in colour with strong aromas of plum, blueberries and dark chocolate on the nose. The medium bodied palate has a great depth of flavour of dark forest berries, accompanied by well managed spicy French oak. The tannins are fine and rounded resulting in a long balanced finish.
Medium to long term. 15+ years.
Meerea Park
Address 2198 Broke Road Pokolbin NSW 2320
Telephone 02 4998 7474
Open Daily 10am to 5pm
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