Hardys Icon 2021 releases: traditions maintained

Canny blending of rich fruit parcels from different regions across Australia built the historical reputation of Hardys Wines. This hallmark continues in the latest release of the Hardys Icon 2021 collection.

The 2019 Eileen Hardy Chardonnay, 2018 Eileen Hardy Shiraz and 2017 Thomas Hardy Cabernet Sauvignon, all available from 7 October, show that chief winemaker Nigel Sneyd MW is upholding longstanding Hardys traditions.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the Hardys Icon 2021 releases

The wines have notable intensity and power, suggesting they have been designed for a long life in the cellar. However, despite their tightly wound structure, Sneyd says the winemaking team is chasing a leaner, more nuanced expression than Hardys Icons from previous eras.

‘In placing this historic brand in a modern era, we don’t want to ignore traditions but we also want to search for more restraint and delicacy,’ explained Sneyd.

Sneyd returned to Hardys and its parent company Accolade (which also owns Arras, St Hallett and Grant Burge among others) in 2019 after 25 years’ working in Europe, the UK and US. He replaced veteran Paul Lapsley as Hardys chief winemaker and global director of wine and quality for the Accolade group.

Multi-regional blending

Sneyd relishes the prospect of embracing the Hardys tradition of multi-regional blending. Initially embraced in the 1860s by ambitious winery founder Thomas Hardy, nuanced blending defines the personality of the Icon wines.

Hardys now sources fruit from throughout Australia, providing the winemaking team with expansive blending options – from seven regions within South Australia; Yarra Valley in Victoria; Margaret River, Frankland River and Swan River regions in Western Australia; Tumbarumba in New South Wales, and throughout Tasmania.

Sneyd says this gives his team the capacity to read each vintage differently to create desired wine styles. It proved essential when Chardonnay picked in Tasmania during the 2019 vintage was deemed unacceptable for the Eileen Hardy Chardonnay. Sneyd instead chose fruit from alternative high-elevation regions – mainly Yarra Valley, at 500m – to best fit this wine’s preferred profile.

Grapes for the Eileen Hardy Shiraz come from the Upper Tintara Vineyard, now more than 110 years old.

To illustrate how the tenor of Hardys’ Icon wines has shifted over time, Sneyd presented a 2014 Thomas Hardy Cabernet Sauvignon during a virtual tasting session.

Despite both being sourced from Coonawarra, the 2014 (the current vintage in the UK) showed a sharper acid seam than the more measured 2017 vintage. Sneyd says this shift represents a reappraisal of Hardys’ Cabernet style that will be even more noticeable in coming vintages.

Hardys Icon 2021 releases: tasting notes and scores

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