When you arrive at Tyrrell’s Wines, you immediately see a small cabin, jokingly referred to by family members as the castle. This cabin was English-immigrant Edward Tyrrell’s first home when he was preparing to clear the land to make way for crops, including grapes. Edward named the hotel Ashmans in honour of his grandmother’s family home in Suffolk, England. He went on to build what Chris, a fifth-generation winemaker, called his present home, just a few hundred yards away. Edward married Susan Hungerford and they raised a large family in the house.
In close proximity to the family home is an old workshop and winery with an earth floor, built in 1863 before the first harvest in 1864. This earth-floored winery is still used for winemaking by Tyrrell’s Wines, one of the most successful family wineries in Australia.
Shiraz and Semillon
Shiraz and Semillon have been the centre of winemaking from the beginning at Tyrrell’s. It was one of the first vineyards planted in the Hunter Valley. In addition to age, this vineyard is so prized because it has never been infested with phylloxera.
This old vineyard, that you see not far from the main winery building, is the source of grape material for the new plantings of Shiraz in Tyrrell because of its high quality. Surprisingly, even new plantings from this vineyard can be grown without irrigation, so durable is the grape material. Dry farming is used in all but one small vineyard at Tyrrell’s.
By 140 years of age, these vines have gaunt but relatively thin trunks. Because most of the rainfall in the Hunter Valley occurs during the summer months rather than winter, when the vines are thicker, these vines look much younger than their age. Historic vines are an important part of Tyrrell’s history and the history of the valley.
Tyrrell's Sacred Sites range
In total, Tyrrell’s Wines grows over 22 acres of vines that are 100 years old or older. These old vineyards are the source of the grapes used to produce wines from Tyrrell’s Sacred Sites range.
The old winery building with its corrugated roof is quite modest on the outside. But that’s part of its charm, along with its 100-year-old vats and oak vessels of all sizes and ages. Until a new winery was built in 2016, Bruce Tyrrell, a chief winemaker and member of the eminent family, managed the historic site.
Tyrrell's Wine Vat 1 Semillon
Tirrell's Shiraz
Shiraz favours the weathered red soils of the Hunter Valley. Hand work in the vineyard begins with thinning shoots, lifting with wire, thinning as needed to achieve desired yield levels. Tirrell’s Shiraz is said to challenge the established notion of Australian Shiraz in the best possible way, presenting a lighter style of Shiraz, which is what the Hunter Valley has been known for since the beginning. Back then, wines were labelled according to style rather than grape variety, Shiraz was called Burgundy.
The Tyrrell family vineyards
The Tyrrell family vineyards, where they have been making wine since 1858, represents more than 160-plus years of winemaking experience. To mark the 160th anniversary, Tyrrell’s Wine released two commemorative wines, the 2005 Vat 1 Hunter Semillon and the 2007 Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz, the latter receiving a perfect 100-point score from wine journalist James Suckling.
The anniversary also coincided with another historic milestone for Tyrrell’s Wines – Old Patch Vineyard produced its 150th harvest that year and continues to hold the distinction of being the oldest producing vineyard in the state. It also became the 47th vintage of Vat 47 Hunter Chardonnay.
