Gundog Estate’s new Semillon and Shiraz

Matt Burton is part of a new breed of Hunter Valley experimenters.

Picture: Nick Cubbin

The Hunter Valley has always had its fair share of dreamers – wine lovers and professionals drawn there by the history of one of Australia’s oldest wine regions, and some outstanding long-lived wines. Its proximity to Sydney has always made it a fertile region for new blood.

But challenges make the Hunter not always the happiest of hunting grounds. It can be a tricky climate, not to mention having the odd season marred by bushfires, as in 2020. Many winemakers around the country shake their head at what the locals have to put up with, but they keep on coming to try their luck.

One of the most successful of the new breed has been Matt Burton at Gundog Estate, although he is far from what you would call a traditional Hunter Valley producer. The Hunter has always prided itself on the quality of its local semillon, shiraz and chardonnay, and at most cellar doors you are likely to find a handful of each. But Burton is your thinking-outside-the-box kind of guy. While there are plenty of innovators in the Hunter, trialling new varieties and styles, it is Burton who pushes that innovation as far as it can go, without stepping over the edge. It’s not that Gundog Estate does not have your Hunter favourites to choose from, as all the usual suspects are there, but there is also plenty more to be found, with stylistic innovation and wines made with fruit from a wider range of regions.

The Burton ethos has also always been not just about wine quality but also being part of a business that is about more than simply selling wine, and having a broader impact on the world around. Gundog Estate is one of a very small number of carbon neutral wineries in Australia. It is also in partnership with Fifteen Trees, which helps people and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, having purchased more than 1000 trees and shrubs, which theoretically tips Gundog Estate into carbon-negative territory.

Burton is also working with Path2Change, a Newcastle not-for-profit that focuses on local homelessness, including making and releasing the Lived Experience Shiraz, profits from which are donated to the charity. Anyone who knows Burton would not be surprised about either of those initiatives, and they are not designed to distract from mediocre wines. Burton is deadly serious in the winery and widely recognised as one of the Hunter’s rising stars. He is also one hell of a decent guy.

His greatest strength in the winery is as an innovator, whether it is with your traditional grape varieties or one of his more unusual styles and blends. For semillon fans, he has a wild semillon, far removed from the traditionally crisp, slick and delicate Hunter style. The wine is fermented on skins with wild yeasts, which makes for a much more savoury proposition. While top Hunter semillon can take some time to come around, this is delicious, complex and textural drinking from day one, while still carrying the regional low-alcohol style that makes it such as attractive drink.

The Indomitus range is where Burton also really lets his hair down, with traditional rules out the door. Regions and varieties are intuitively blended to make wines with genuine personality and style. They won’t be to everyone’s taste but they offer the adventurous wine drinker a journey off-road into a brave new world. White wines in this range can be a blend of semillon, gewürztraminer and riesling, with ferments on skin and ageing in old oak adding texture and savoury detail. A bone-dry wild-fermented Hilltops nebbiolo rosé and a blend of Hunter shiraz and Yarra Valley pinot noir are other examples of wines that help to make the Gundog Cellar door one of the most interesting places for a wine-tasting in the Hunter.

Burton’s most exciting and also daunting project to date is his M Burton Shiraz. For this he has gone for a multi-vintage blend of Murrumbateman shiraz, much of which spent more than a year on skins to extract as much structure and flavour as possible. Murrambateman is generally home to elegant shiraz, such as that of Clonakilla, but Burton has stepped far into a very different realm – it will be fascinating to see where this wine ends up. However, what is never in doubt is the genuine integrity and balance seen in this wine and all that Matt Burton touches.

Gundog Estate Wild Semillon 2021

A wild-fermented and non-traditional style of Hunter Valley Semillon, which has given it greater texture and complexity at a young age. It has an array of guava and honeydew fruits plus some earthy, savoury aromas before launching into a crisp, textural palate. A great food wine.

Gundog Estate Lived Experience Shiraz 2019

Bit of a traditional Hunter red with rich dark cherry, mulberry and new leather aromas with balanced toasty oak. The palate then moves more into the red earth spectrum, with juicy acidity and chewy tannins carrying the fruit to a lingering finish. All profits for this wine are donated to Path2Change.

Gundog Estate M Burton Shiraz

Gorgeously bright cherry and cranberry fruits that are distinctly savoury rather than sweet, and topped by white pepper, cloves and herbs. The palate has an almost Bordeaux-like structural integrity – juicy Murrumbateman acidity with mouthcoating tannins clearly designed for long ageing. A wine for the true believers.