Three Ponds Holman Shiraz 2017

- Hunter Valley -

$75.00

Per Bottle

Fruit sourced at the Holman Estate, Pokolbin.

Generally considered one of the best red grape sites in the Hunter.

Matured in fine- and medium-graine French oak barrels.

Bright, deep vibrant purple in colour with intense aromas of ripe berry, chocolate and black cherries.

The palate is a wonderful rich and layered with chocolate, black fruits and spices.

Tannins are ripe and finely grained and already showing signs of integration.

This is a very high-quality Hunter Shiraz showing on the one hand the typical traits of Hunter elegance with a richness and backbone that is seldom seen. This wine will age beautifully over the next 6-10 years and no doubt will warrant a higher score as it develops.

Qty

Vineyard Holman Estate, Pokolbin

Winemaker Mark Richardson

Bright, deep vibrant purple in colour with intense primary aromas of ripe berry and black cherries. The palate is a wonderful melange of ripe and richly layered chocolate, black fruit and spice. Tannins are ripe and finely grained and already showing signs of integration. This is a very high-quality Hunter Shiraz showing on the one hand the typical traits of Hunter elegance with a richness and backbone that is seldom seen. This wine will age beautifully over the next 6-10 years and no doubt will warrant a higher score as it develops.

Score: 95+/100 Ron Georgiou MW

Deep, youthful purple/red colour, with a fresh red cherry to raspberry fruit-driven aroma, the palate bright and fresh and alive, with firm upright tannins, which are gently sculpted and not domineering. The finish is long and sweet-fruited, charming and delicious. The tannins provide good support and structure while avoiding being obtrusive. A wine of power as well as elegance.

Huon Hooke, Real Review 95/100 (5 stars)

2017 Mount Eyre Vineyards Three Ponds Holman combines dark berries with complex charcuterie-like aromas and attractive oak. The palate’s supple, with plenty of flesh and fine tannins. “Fresh cherry aromas, clean and fruit-driven,” Hooke noted. “Some vanilla. Lovely fruit here, intense and medium-full bodied, with a strong backing of emery-like tannins. Very good balance. A bold, bright, youthful wine which needs time.”

95/100 Nick Bulleid MW – Gourmet Traveller

Three Ponds is the brand, Mount Eyre Vineyards is the winery. Oak spice, fruit spice, toast, berries and gunsmoke. It feels convincing from start to finish, well polished, spread with fine-grained tannin and persistent. It’s not a big wine but it doesn’t need to be.

Rated : 93 Points, Tasted : Nov 18 Campbell Mattinson – Winefront

Highlights

2021-2035

Ideal Drinking

14.70%

Alcohol Content

Prestige

Chocolate, dark berries, spice

Full bodied

100% Hunter

2017

Vintage

Holman Estate - the vineyard

Planted under the supervision of Dr Peter Holman, a famous orthopaedic surgeon from Sydney, in the 1980s and 1990s, Holman Estate was originally planted to shiraz and merlot. Interestingly, current vignerons Dr Eve Tsironis and Dr Aniello Iannuzzi, worked under Dr Holman at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in the 1990s! The site sits on a ridge of deep, red volcanic soil, considered amongst the best in the Hunter Valley. Other important vineyards along this ridge are Scarborough and the historic Steven Vineyard (now owned by De Iuliis wines). Since purchasing Holman Estate about two decades ago, Mount Eyre Vineyards has experimented with a number of other varietals, including fiano, viogner, nero d'avola and negroamaro. Having concluded that this exclusive site is best suited to ultra premium black grapes for red wines, it is now planted to only three red varietals, namely shiraz, merlot and nero d’avola.