The Hunter Valley’s Winmark Wines is a chardonnay specialist, with even the Hunter stalwart variety semillon making way to render the site pure in its pursuit of the Burgundian variety across its 11.33 hectares of vines. Once the home of Poole’s Rock and a raft of critically revered chardonnays from the 2000s, the site fell into neglect around 2011 until being rescued in 2016 and resurrected over the following years to now produce a suite of Winmark chardonnays from the relatively accessible to the distinctly premium. The site is managed by Liz Riley and Dave Gosser.

While many identify the Hunter Valley with semillon and shiraz, chardonnay eclipses them in volume combined, and the region was critical to the feverish modern uptake of the variety in this country. The famous story goes that Murray Tyrrell hopped a fence in 1967 to purloin a chardonnay cutting from the Penfolds HVD Vineyard (since bought by Tyrrell’s) that was then propagated to produce the first ‘Vat 47’ Chardonnay in 1972.

The rest, as they say… That release date happened to also coincide with what were likely the subregion of Broke Fordwich’s first chardonnay vines, with 18 rows of the Penfolds clone planted. Those vines would become the basis for what was renamed Poole’s Rock (a local landmark, where destitute convict Richard Poole often sought shelter) in 1988 when bought by Macquarie Bank founder David Clarke.

What followed was a significant success story, but with Clarke’s passing in 2011 the brand was sold. With the focus shifted to Pokolbin, the Broke Fordwich vineyard fell into disrepair until it was purchased in 2016 by Karin Adcock. Renamed Winmark Wines (meaning ‘field of vines’ in her native Danish tongue), the 52-hectare property was significantly restored as a premier accommodation venue and premium vineyard.

“It is one of those special sites in the Hunter with pale duplex soils that are the source of many fine chardonnays. The pale soils have a slower start to the season and are generally cooler. Cooling breezes waft around the Brokenback Range and along Wollombi Brook, keeping this site cooler than many others in the heat of summer.”

The focus on chardonnay was maintained and enhanced, with celebrated consultant viticulturist Liz Riley managing the restoration and replanting with vineyard manager Dave Gosser. “The fruit comes off a rich heritage,” says Riley. “It is one of those special sites in the Hunter with pale duplex soils that are the source of many fine chardonnays. The pale soils have a slower start to the season and are generally cooler. Cooling breezes waft around the Brokenback Range and along Wollombi Brook, keeping this site cooler than many others in the heat of summer.”

“The biggest shift for Winmark has been the diversity of chardonnay plantings with the addition of the newer Bernard clones. This has seen the original high-pedigree parcels complemented with a different suite of flavours and complexity. It is great to see the historical Penfolds I10V1/V5 clones and new 95 and 548 clones express the site terror with different flavours and characters. All parcels are brought into the winery separately and we can see the difference – it is amazing.”