Hurley Vineyard


— About —

VINEYARD SPECIFICS – KEY POINTS

Notes from Kevin Bell – “Our principles are: organic viticulture, non-irrigation, low yields and true expression of the terroir of a vineyard and the in Individual climats within a vineyard”. Hurley Vineyard wraps around the north-eastern crest of a little volcanic hill, so it receives abundant sunshine and free-moving air, yet is well-protected from strong winds by 100 year old pine trees and the surrounding topography. The hill is capped by stony, redbrown earth. This ‘Older Volcanic’ soil type is quick to warm and slow to cool, and retains moisture and drains freely. Planted in 1998 and 1999 the estate has 3.43 hectares of Pinot Noir across 3 clearly defined climats. Lodestone, Hommage and Garamond. Perched on a crest of volcanic red clay covered by a topsoil of stony red-brown clay loam. The differing styles of each climat or vineyard is topography based as opposed to a varying soil type. Winemaking and elevage are the same for all each of the three vineyards. The Estate as described by the owner Kevin Bell as perched on a crest of volcanic red clay covered by a topsoil of stony red-brown clay loam. The winery, marked with the yellow tag sits in the middle of what can be best described as an upside down saucer, with the vineyards sloping away and down to their respective exposition.

WINEMAKING & ELEVAGE

Winemaking consists hand-picked fruit arriving to the winery, grapes are cooled overnight before 100% destemmed whole berries, no crushing or whole-bunch into open top fermenters. Pre-ferment maceration cold soak of approximately one week before fermentation with natural yeasts. Pigeage twice a day then post ferment maceration 5 to 7 days vintage dependent. Gravity fed into a basket press then into 228ltr barrel for aging. Kevin and Tricia are passionately committed to one cooper, Sirugue, based in Nuit St George. Kevin highlights that he loves the fact the staves are air-dried for a minimum of 4 years before they are used for the barrels, giving the wood time to season and low toasting. 1/4 to 1/3 new oak for the elevage of each wine, 20 months approx. total aging, no racking at any stage until bottling and under gravity.
On average the estate produces between 1000 and 1300 9ltr cases per year dependant on yield. 2018 is an exception, with 1600 cases approx. produced. Background on Hurley Estate Kevin Bell & Tricia Byrnes, owners of Hurley Vineyard are immersed in the task of showcasing what their 3 differing single vineyard plots or climats can express from their estate in Balnarring. Established in 1998. Burgundy clearly inspired them to this endeavour, not to mimic the wines from the Cote d’Or in terms of taste but the ethos of single site expressions, terrior driven wines.

VINTAGE – 2020

For consistent supporters/fans of Hurley Vineyard you will be both pleased and disappointed all at the same time. Pleased in the style and quality of the wines, disappointed that the yields were over 50% down on their average production. Tasting at the winery in May pre-release it was clear the 2020 vintage is back to the style that both private customers and trade experts have come to expect from Kevin & Tricia’s wines. The previous release, 2019, was a very warm vintage that produced deeper colour, fuller bodied and higher alcohol wines. Kevin outlines some the key points of 2020 vintage at Hurley – Challenging fruit set caused by too much wind, rain and cold – hard to pollinate resulting in a small fruit set in turn lower yield. Some challenging weather but a combination of sunshine late in the vintage plus some very strict green harvesting saved the vintage. ‘Weather luck’ as Kevin and Tricia put it.