The late great Murray Tyrrell ... one of the Hunter Valley's greatest champions.

Tyrrells 2004 Single Vineyard Stevens Semillon

Tyrrells have produced many excellent wines from shiraz, chardonnay and (somewhat surprisingly given the Hunter Valley's climate) pinot noir, but it is semillon that remains the real jewel in the crown.

Traditionally, Vat 1 has held pride of place, but this wine is certainly a worthy challenger. A lean, almost mean, streak of limey fruit provides the core of a wine that even after nearly five years is remarkably youthful.

The more mature semillon characters of honey and buttered toast are just starting to peek into the glass but you're going to have to wait a decade to really appreciate what has made Hunter semillon one of the world's few genuinely great wine styles.

If you must drink it now, do it the favour of matching it with the most perfectly grilled piece of fish you can find. At $30 an absolute bargain for a great wine.

Contact Tyrrells Wines for further information and purchasing details.

Tyrrells celebrates 150 years in domineering style

I remember visiting the Hunter Valley with a contingent of media-types during the 1977 vintage and witnessing a wonderful cameo performance from the late great Murray Tyrrell.

He was completely in his element, sleeves rolled up to his armpits, scooping handfuls of fermenting shiraz grapes from the press and luxuriating as the bright red-purple juice ran down his arms and stained his shirt.

"Look at that colour," he said. "This is going to be another great vintage."

I was probably too early in my wine journey to fully appreciate the bottles he opened for us that day, but I vividly recall the enthusiasm and generosity he showed in sharing the contents.

Later to be dubbed "The Mouth of the Hunter" by Melbourne scribe Frank Doherty, Murray Tyrrell was one of the Hunter Valley's greatest champions and, alongside the likes of the late Len Evans, also a significant figure in popularising wine in Australia.

These days, the family-owned company is in the hands of his almost-as-exuberent son, Bruce, and it obviously remains a potent-enough force to celebrate its 150th year in 2008 by winning 19 trophies, 41 gold medals, 18 silver medals and 46 bronze medals at major Australian wine shows.

To put it mildly, that's a formidable achievement. At the 2008 Hunter Valley Wine Show alone Tyrrells took away 14 trophies, 13 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 17 bronze medals. The other competitors must have been left scrumaging for the scraps.

Over the past few days I've had the pleasure of tasting four current Tyrrells releases and they all show the quality required to achieve that sort of dominance:

§ Tyrrells 2004 Single Vineyard Stevens Semillon (see left).

§ Tyrrells 2006 Single Vineyard Belford Chardonnay. This is made from a small vineyard leased by Tyrrells from another long-standing Hunter family, the Eliots. While a bit fuller in style to the winery's more famous Vat 47 Chardonnay, it's still a relatively lean wine with nectarine and grapefruit flavours coming to the fore over creamy barrel-ferment characters. At least a medium-term cellaring proposition. $39

§ Tyrrells 2008 Lost Block Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon blanc remains one of Australia's fastest-growing wine segments, often for reasons that escape me, but this is a white that ticks all the boxes. It has the expected herbaceous/tropical fruit, almost pungent bouquet but instead of falling away on the palate as so many sauvignons do, the Lost Block offers ample enough weight and length to demand second and third glasses. $20

§ Tyrrells 2005 Pinot Noir Chardonnay Brut. Tyrrells' chief winemaker Andrew Spinaze blends the base wine from early-picked Hunter fruit then oversees the tiraging and disgorging processes at Petersons Champagne House, just a few clicks away. It's a style of bubbly I really like, probably because of the high pinot content which gives the palate a firm enough backbone to balance the creamy complexity provided by the chardonnay and lengthy maturation on yeast lees. $27

Contact Tyrrells Wines for further information and purchasing details.