Updated March 2005

Best Red Wine of 2004

Mudgee wine producer Robert Stein Vineyard has produced the Best Red Wine of 2004, according to popular Australian Wine Writer Rob Ingram.

Ingram, who has columns in Australian Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine and Australian Country Style, considered all wines in the $20 - $30 price range, and says the Robert Stein Vineyard 2001 Reserve Shiraz “shone like a beacon”.

In announcing the accolade in the March issue of Australian Country Style, Ingram wrote, “Robert Stein Vineyard’s Reserve Shiraz is Christmas Day in a bottle - smoked nuts, dark cherries, fresh berries and rich fruitcake on the nose. The palate is rich, dense and mouth filling, and the aroma characters are all represented in the flavour, along with ginger and cinnamon”.

“For some reason,” says Ingram, “Mudgee wineries wear modesty like a medal. The wine writer doesn’t often experience the delight of stumbling across something good as this by his/her own detective work. It makes me wonder how many other Mudgee discoveries are hiding out there, too shy to join the circus of public adulation.”

Rob Ingram says he did not apply strict show judging criteria in making his decision. “Too often, wines that win gold at shows are contrived to conform to a narrow technical profile and are designed to look at their best for the short period they are under the gaze of the show judges. I was looking for personality and genuine varietal/regional expression, and the Robert Stein Vineyard Shiraz is in very good company indeed.

My congratulations go to a family name that goes back to the earliest days of Australian winemaking.”

New Winemaker

Moore Haszard, recently appointed winemaker at Robert Stein Vineyard could be described as one of the new generation of winemakers.

In his early 30s with a degree in Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln University in NZ, a young family and with 5 years of full time post graduate experience, Moore brings to Steins an energy and a commitment to continue the tradition of producing premium varietal wines. "I want to produce wine styles that keep Mudgee on the map. While maintaining the great quality established by the previous winemaker, Michael Slater, I want to evolve the styles and get some of them into the super premium range’ said Moore.

‘By careful vineyard management, the production of quality fruit and generally good viticultural techniques, I think we can achieve this. Everything is set up here to do so – it’s a genial workplace, the infrastructure is good, the vineyard is in great shape and we have the personnel here – all these factors combine to continue the production of excellent wines’

Moore has been in Mudgee for 3 years and before he came to us, he worked at Lowe Family Wine Co, Andrew Harris Vineyards, Villa Maria (NZ) and Cope Williams in Victoria. He’s already very involved in the local wine scene, having been a steward at the 2003 Mudgee Wine Show and Chief Steward in 2004. Moore’s wife Mary-Jean is teaching at a local primary school and baby Amelia is almost 1 year old, so Moore is just settling into life in Mudgee, which he describes as ‘a great area… friendly people, a wine industry developing rapidly, excellent food, wine and great people.’ We welcome Moore and look forward to more great wines being produced at Robert Stein.

Looking for our wines in the Blue Mountains?

Try one of these spots and let them know Drew sent you..

Gardners Inn..Blackheath
Glenbrook Liquor Store
Leura Cellars
Katoomba Wines
New Ivanhoe..Blackheath

Robert Stein Vineyard
Pipeclay Lane
Mudgee
New South Wales 2850
Australia

Call us:
Ph: 02 6373 3991
Fax us;
02 6373 3709

or send an email to info@robertstein.com.au