Hunter Valley Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Young Gun of Wine

Kenisha & Alisdair Tulloch

Kenisha and Alisdair Tulloch’s Aeon Wines is a Hunter Valley label with geology at its heart – quite literally. The single-vineyard wines are named after the soil types they come from, with the geology and climate of each site depicted on the label artwork and the grape variety relegated to the back. The current range spans the Alluvium field blend of syrah, touriga nacional and viognier from the Field of Mars Vineyard; the Vertosol syrah from Tawarri in Merriwa; the Ferrosol syrah from a small leased block; the Light Dry Red – a nod to the Hunter’s historic shiraz and pinot noir burgundy blends; and the Soleil Fumé semillon from the Latara Vineyard. All fruit for the single-vineyard wines is grown and managed by Alisdair himself. The motto is Wines of Earth and Sky, and the wines live up to it.

Meagan & James Becker

Meagan and James Becker of M & J Becker Wines have carved a distinctive niche in the winemaking world by bridging the vinous landscapes of two continents. Their journey spans regions of New South Wales, Australia, and the renowned wine regions of California, USA. In Australia, their offering includes a dozen wines, ranging from Tumbarumba Pinot Noir and Hunter Valley Chardonnay to Hilltops Nebbiolo. While their commitment to transmitting terroir extends to managing a vineyard in Hunter Valley, where they converted to Certified Organic through ACO late in 2019. All the M & J Becker Wines from Australia are made in a collaborative winemaking facility shared with the other rising stars of the Hunter Valley.

Andrew Ling

Andrew Ling’s foray into the winemaking world was serendipitous – his transition into the field in 2001 as a vintage lab assistant, a favor from his soccer coach, prevented this star player from leaving Mudgee. It didn’t take long for the wine bug to bite, and his career has since spanned roles with leading names across Mudgee, Orange, and the Hunter Valley. In 2017, Ling assumed the role of Senior Winemaker at Carillion Wines, a position he retains to this day. His own venture, Agitate Wines, was launched in 2021 with a Pét-Nat Riesling, and the label has since expanded to include five wines. The Agitate wines embrace a minimal intervention approach: unfiltered and unfined, they are “raw and textured,” in Ling’s words, yet “generally bottled in their youth” to capture their brightness and freshness, resulting in eminently gluggable wines.

Aaron Mercer

Starting in the wine game some 20 years ago on a low rung, cleaning out tanks, Aaron Mercer has since worked broadly in his beloved Hunter valley and around the world. Now in its fourth vintage, Mercer Wines is a blending of two of his greatest passions: wine and the environment. Working from sustainable vineyards across the state, the wines are built with approachable drinkability as a key driver, with varieties both established and adapted – such as chardonnay, semillon and shiraz – and those emerging – including nero d’avola, montepulciano and vermentino – to best fit our changing climate.

Alex Beckett

Alex Beckett started in the wine industry fresh from school as a means of putting himself through university. But falling for the industry and its people led him to shift his studies to winemaking, along with a head-first immersion into the wines of the world, with a lengthy stint in fine-wine shops giving him a global perspective. A swift rise to becoming the winemaker at Pokolbin star Briar Ridge in 2018 now seems him overseeing the making of classic, regional wines alongside emerging varieties, with both the traditional and the experimental treated with the same curiosity to make even more pure, subtle, layered and textured expressions.

Peta Kotz

Peta Kotz’s Sabi Wabi is her homage to reworking the traditions of the Hunter, of searching for “beauty amongst imperfection”. Semillon is the foundation of the brand she launched in 2019 while working for biodynamic Hunter winery Krinklewood, and she steadfastly says it will remain that way, although her lo-fi making, with no subtractions and no adds, bar a fraction of sulphur, and employment of a raft of alternative vessels is also applied to other whites, red wine and rosé.

Angus Vinden

Angus Vinden is a viticulturist who makes wine, not the other way around – a distinction he draws deliberately and maintains religiously. Based in Pokolbin at the family estate his parents Guy and Sandra established in 1990, Vinden now farms two vineyard sites across 13 grape varieties, operates three labels, and makes every wine from fruit he grows himself. Vinden Wines is the heritage label, rooted in classic Hunter styles. The Vinden Headcase is his more progressive expression – lighter, more textural, more experimental, drawing on the Hunter’s own pioneering tradition of elegant, medium-bodied reds rather than the heavier international styles that briefly dominated. A third label, Lignée, is a limited annual collaboration with Will Gilbert of Gilbert Family Wines in Mudgee. Across all three, the philosophy is the same: minimal intervention, wild fermentation, and the vineyard doing the heavy lifting.

Daniel Payne

Although Daniel Payne dabbled in the wine industry in the early 2000s, while studying to be a primary school teacher in Newcastle, it took until 2017 for him to launch his own label. That initial experience was in the Hunter Valley, with Payne growing up just outside the region. A love for wine was well and truly enshrined then, but a career as a primary teacher stood in the way for several years, before the lure became too great, and Daniel enrolled at Charles Sturt University to study winemaking.

Kenisha & Alisdair Tulloch Aeon Wines

Kenisha & Alisdair Tulloch

Meagan & James Becker

Andrew Ling

Aaron Mercer

Alex Beckett

Peta Kotz

Angus Vinden

Daniel Payne

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