By James Atkinson
St Hugo's 2010 wines will be looked upon as classics in years to come, winemaker Sam Kurtz (pictured) has declared, while he also revealed that St Hugo will not be making any Coonawarra Cabernet from the difficult 2011 vintage.
Echoing the words of fellow Barossans, Kurtz this week said the 2010 Barossa vintage was arguably the region's best since 2002 "and perhaps even 1998", while the 2010 Coonawarra vintage was the best since at least 2006.
"People are starting to talk it up quite a lot, and I think it's the strongest vintage we've had in awhile," he told media at a special preview tasting in Melbourne.
Following on from the recent release of the 2010 Grenache Shiraz Mataro (pictured) – the first GSM under the St Hugo label – Kurtz said the St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet, Barossa Coonawarra Shiraz Cabernet and Barossa Shiraz will be on the market mid-2013.
"I think the Cabernet's really starting to open up quite nicely now, the others perhaps could use a little bit more time to really hit their straps fully," he said
"I do think the 2010 vintage overall is one we should be very excited about. They'll be real classics down the track – it's certainly something to look forward to."
However, Kurtz said there will definitely be no St Hugo Cabernet, Shiraz Cabernet or GSM from 2011.
"Generally I just didn't think Coonawarra Cabernet was up to it out of 2011," he said.
"There's no GSM out of 2011 because the Barossa Mataro and Grenache weren't really up to it [either]," he said.
Kurtz said St Hugo's only 2011 release will be a small quantity of Barossa Shiraz.
"There's some extremely good Shiraz out of the Barossa from 2011. The style is a bit atypical, it's a bit more like Eden Valley than Barossa floor, a bit more elegant and spicy," he said.