HUGH HAMILTON BLOODLINE SET
Featured along with Hugh Hamilton Wines on BBC2’s Great Australian Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo.
Michael visits Hugh Hamilton Wines, Australia’s oldest surviving family in the wine industry. The McLaren Vale grapes were planted by founding patriarch Richard Hamilton nearly two centuries ago.
Hugh and Mary bring you their own unique trio of wines, a Grenache, a Shiraz and a Pedro Ximenez in honour of their forebear, Richard Hamilton.
Richard, a respectable tailor living on the high streets of Dover with his wife and 8 children, engaged in a second business under the cover of darkness – smuggling casks of Bordeaux wine across the English Channel. When Richard decided a change of scenery was needed he packed up his family and headed for the newly colonised South Australia. It was here that he started growing Grenache, Shiraz and Pedro Ximenez grapes for ‘the health of the family’. So started South Australia’s first wine dynasty that continues to this day.
Now, 180 years on, Richard’s legacy and secret are materialised in this beautifully crafted tailor’s crate – a trio of noteworthy wines smuggled beneath a limited edition cashmere throw both included in the order. Be one of the first to own a piece of genuine Australian Wine History.
HAMILTON 1837 GRENACHE
There is an amazing duality that is fresh, perfumed and alive but there is also such amazing depth and length to the palate.
In part, the perfume is the result of the 30% whole bunch fruit included in the ferment but there is a very defined varietal lift that insists the whole bunch character is far from the whole story. The tremendous fruit character is carefully held in check by the assertive palate structure.
HAMILTON 1837 SHIRAZ
A necessary component was to add depth to the palate and to complement the high tone aromatics. The answer lay in the middle of the Church Block in the 21 rows of Shiraz that usually make Black Blood II. The generosity of the palate grounded the flightiness of the other two Shiraz, easing them into a satisfying whole.
HAMILTON 1837 PEDRO XIMENEZ NV
Voluptuous, intense and sustained, the Pedro is a masterpiece made possible only by time and patience; so long in fact that the wine has long ago outlived the vineyard that made it. If given the chance it will outlive all of us as well.
Over many years the original base has been over-blended multiple times, with lengthy periods of rest between better known as the Solera system, building phenomenal depth of flavour and viscosity. The cumulative effect of many years of slow evaporation has concentrated and enhanced the character. A fitting respect for its rarity is achieved at the end of the bottle as you try to extract every last drop, knowing that there isn’t any more where this came from.
This product includes a crafted tailor’s crate and a limited edition cashmere throw!
Country: McLaren Vale, Australia
Grape Variety: Grenache, Shiraz, Pedro Ximenez
