Winetastic

Irongate Estate is a relatively new and modern winery and vineyard located in the lower Hunter Valley. The cellar door itself is an impressive Mediterranean style villa, and like the winery itself, no expense has been spared in its construction.

The wines at Irongate are all very approachable in style and are idealy drunk upon release or after a short visit to the cellar. One of the standouts is the Irongate Estate Semillon 2001 ($20), which has some of the most distinctive lemon and lime characters of any Hunter Semillon, combined with a little toasty aged complexity, it remains a personal favorite.

I would happily drink all of the Irongate reds, including Shiraz and Cabernet, however if you are looking for a wine that is somewhat unique, it is hard to go past the Irongate Estate Sweet Shiraz 2004 ($25). Exhibiting loads of up-front berry fruit flavour, this is a well balanced dessert wine that is ideal when matched with rich chocolate treats. The cellar door tasting of this wine includes a sample of chocolate cake, the flavours combine to resemble a wine-infused blackforest gateau.

My only complaint is that the Irongate website is years out of date and they do not appear to respond to emails, tsk tsk.

Website: http://www.iron-gate-estate.com.au