97 points - "This wine upholds its regal status as one of the finest reds from the region. Multilayered and serious, you'll find concentrated flavours laced within a velvety frame. The palate is commanding with its assertive intensity and its plush, expansive nature. You'll see blood plums, crushed sage, mulberries and wet soil. There's also some cracked cacao nib, pure blueberry and earthy rhubarb compote. The grapes are sourced from the best parcels from Tyrrell's Ashmans property. Pure class." - Toni Paterson (Halliday Wine Companion)

96 points - "Brilliant deep purple-red colour; red berry, bacon-fat, raspberry and pepper aromas, bright and fresh on palate, intense and above all supremely elegant, medium bodied and focused, long and intense but also subtle and refined. A great example of the medium bodied elegance of classic Hunter shiraz." - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

96 points - "The flagship. Perhaps overlooked, due to the commercial obsession with the single vineyard wines, a recent phenomenon. To do so is the drinker's loss, for this is exceptional. Alpine spruce, licorice root, blue and red-fruit allusions, with flecks of mint providing lift and verve. The coddled warmth of polished leather. Lovely stuff, defined by the long-stretch tannins, a manifest from a meld of older vine sites. Typically Hunter mid-weighted and savory. Drink or hold, but best after 2030. Screw cap." - Ryan Montgomery (James Suckling)

95+ points - "Pretty, perfumed, dark red fruit, a little spice, a light dusting of vanilla cocoa. Medium-bodied, composed and flavoursome, cool clear acidity, tannin is there adding gentle grip, kind of a powdery/chalky texture here, and the finish is long with fragrance, fine grip and a sort of cranberry acidity. It’s quite a delicate wine, and I reckon it will be terrific with some bottle age. Superb." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

94 points - "The 2022 Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz has a stony/rocky/earthy edge to the nose, and in the mouth, it is far more full-bodied and richer than the single-vineyard Shirazes tasted next to it. Here, we have raspberry, boysenberry, hints of chocolate, licorice, roast meat and graphite. It offers loads of wet metal and black spice through the finish, as well as black tea, bramble, clove and tobacco, to boot. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap." - Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)

Vat 9 Shiraz is sourced from the best parcels on the Tyrrell Estate Ashmans. These vines have a minimum age of 50 years, and are grown in red clay soils over limestone. Weinkeller and the Short Flat make up the majority of the Vat 9 blend.

Handpicked and sorted in the vineyard in the fourth week of February, the blocks were all fermented separately in open top vats. The individual wines were then matured in mostly newer French oak casks (2700L) until the Vat 9 blend was assembled in November 2022. The blend was then matured for a further five months before bottling.

Medium colour density with a glossy purple hue. The nose is complex showing darker summer fruits, with some liquorice and spice from the oak. The palate is intense in its fruit profile whilst remaining medium-bodied. The length and texture is the signature of this Vat 9, it shows impeccable balance and approachability yet is built for a long life in the cellar.