Not long after we’d been visiting the Hunter Valley in early 2011, we picked up a half case of long-time Hunter Valley producer Tulloch’s occasional limited release ‘Hector of Glen Elgin’ Shiraz. This particular wine is sometimes hard to obtain – it is often snapped up by vineyard members early after release.
According to the label, this is the 14th release of “The Hector”, produced to commemorate the life of Hector Tulloch, who established a golden era for Tulloch wine in the 1950s.
This wine is not produced annually, only in selected years when the right quality of grapes are available. Previous releases have been in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
This bottle – opened recently – is still incredibly young. Based on earlier tastings, and comparing this particular bottle, we’d say that there are many, many more years left for cellaring and maturing, though it is drinking particularly nicely at the moment.
The wine consists of a dark plum colour, and the bouquet is especially vibrant, right out of the bottle. There’s a slight sweetness coupled with liquorish and cloves, quite aromatic. The initial taste is medium bodied, you can really taste the oak infused with berries and the usual Hunter style tannins.
Although you could easily open and enjoy a bottle of Tulloch’s “The Hector” today, we’d recommend you lay a few bottles down – they’re likely to be drinking well into 2020 and onwards, thanks to the screw cap (and with careful cellaring of course!).
We recently popped the screw cap of a bottle of Margaret River stalwart Moss Wood’s 
