Expert's Choice: Hunter Valley Semillon
Tracking down Hunter's finest...
Huon Hooke is Australia’s leading independent wine writer, based in Sydney, who also judges wine competitions and educates on wine. A journalist first and wine professional second, he has tertiary qualifications in both fields, and has also worked in wineries and wine retailing. He contributes to Gourmet Traveller Wine, the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Good Food’ section, ‘Good Weekend’ magazine and Decanter, among other publications. He was co-author of The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide for 14 years until 2007. In 2012 he launched the web and phone based app, Huonhooke.com. He has won 11 awards for wine writing since 1984 and has published 19 books on wine, including a biography of Penfolds Grange creator Max Schubert.
Tracking down Hunter's finest...
The winery that put Coonawarra on the map for wine drinkers in the 1950s...
Two cool Australian regions you might not know about…
Read the full interview and see Peter Gago's five life-changing bottles...
Influential Australian winemaker Dr Tony Jordan OAM has died at the age of 75.
Huon Hooke on the latest styles emerging from this highly regarded region...
See Decanter's top scoring Aussie Shiraz wines, as rated by our experts...
This island state has less than 1% of Australia’s vineyards and just 0.1% of wine is exported, but that hasn’t muffled the huge buzz surrounding its cool-climate potential. Huon Hooke finds very good things come in small packages...
Australia's white wine scene is a hotbed of quality, and very much on the up. The country's foremost wine communicator, Huon Hooke surveys new and established wineries, large and small, to name his top estates. As published in the Decanter July 2012 issue.
When it comes to Aussie Chardonnay, there are few bigger names than Leeuwin Estate. Huon Hooke visits the Margaret River winery behind Australia’s first vineyard concert, now celebrating 30 vintages of its pioneering Art Series
It’s not just Grange that cellars well. Leading Australian wine writer HUON HOOKE champions the ageability of his country’s whites – Chardonnay as well as Riesling, screwcap as well as cork
Australia’s high-volume brands dominate supermarket shelves, but are criticised as soul-less, and made to a formula. HUON HOOKE meets three ex-corporate winemakers who made the break, and decided to go solo.
Petaluma founder, mentor to winemaking students, and visionary winemaker, Brian Croser is one of the leaders of the Australian wine world. HUON HOOKE meets Decanter’s Man of the Year 2004
Like all wine countries, Australia has a relatively small number of truly great vineyard sites, as a proportion of the total planted area. These are the jewels, the rare places where the right vine has been planted in a soil and climate that suits, and the viticulture and winemaking are done in sympathetic ways, tried and tested over a long period.