Silkman

History

It was only a matter of time until Liz Silkman (nee Jackson) and her husband Shaun played their own hand of wines in the Hunter Valley, and now they have it might just be the trump. The young couple have unmatched experience in the Hunter Valley region, both are born and bred locals, having made wine and managed wineries in the area for over 10 years. Shaun manages production at his fathers First Creek Wines, whilst Liz is the chief winemaker. They haven’t let go of their day jobs, but in their spare time have recently put their own name on some wines, with the small batch ‘Silkman’ wines first released on the 2013 vintage.

Liz and Shaun make 9 wines totaling only 1200 cases. They don’t yet own any vineyards but with their experience in the region they know where the best fruit for each variety lie, and only the healthiest Hunter grapes go into their wines. In the USA we’ve initially launched with the flagship Semillon, Hunter Valley’s iconic grape, which thrives on the sandier white/ grey soils and old river beds on the lower vineyards around the town Pokolbin. This is where Liz and Shaun source their fruit. We see the meaty, medium bodied Hunter Valley Shiraz wines (not imported) from the higher, farther inland slopes that sit on a denser red clay based soil profile.

Land

Hunter Valley is unique in its climate, it is warm, and humid though sunlight hours are low due to coastal cloud cover and it is often affected by late growing season rains. This is why Semillon is a variety that has excelled, it is an early ripener and reaches great flavor development with low brix levels and high, naturally preserving acidity. This means that harvest is in early February, generally before the rains arrive. This climate with fruit grown on the sandier soils presents one of the truly unique terroirs in the New World.