Brokenwood’s Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz continues its remarkable legacy with the 2024 vintage release

Few Australian wines carry the reputation and history of Brokenwood’s Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz. For decades, the Hunter Valley icon has stood as a benchmark for the region, earning a place among Australia’s most celebrated single-vineyard wines. With the release of the 2024 vintage last Saturday, Brokenwood – The 2026 Halliday Wine Companion Winery of the Year – continues a story that has been shaped by site, season and generations of winemakers.

For Brokenwood’s chief winemaker Stuart Hordern, the wine’s enduring success begins with the vineyard itself. “It is simply a near-perfect site for shiraz in the Hunter Valley,” Stuart says.

Planted on red clay atop a gentle east-facing slope, the vineyard benefits from morning sun and cooling breezes, with shadows from the Brokenback range providing protection from the harsh afternoon sun. “Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz is our flagship wine, so it simultaneously represents the very best of our vineyards, winemaking and the people involved in the business.”

Brokenwood chief winemaker Stuart Hordern in the Graveyard vineyard.

The 2024 vintage was shaped by a season that followed several years of challenging conditions in the Hunter Valley. Lower yields and an early growing season culminated in a February harvest of the vineyard’s old vines. The result, according to Stuart, was fruit harvested “in pristine condition”, producing a wine that is both fragrant and expressive.

He describes the 2024 Graveyard Shiraz as “classic Hunter Valley shiraz” with “medium weight, savoury fruits, and fine, long tannins”. While approachable in its youth, the wine is built for the long term. “Over the next eight to 12 years it will gradually relax into itself with more savoury, earthy characters revealing themselves,” he says. “Graveyard is certainly a wine that has a 20-year future ahead of it, otherwise it is not released.”

Part of the fascination of Graveyard Shiraz is the way it captures the nuances of each season while remaining unmistakably itself. “That is the great joy of Single Vineyard wines,” Stuart says. “Because the grapes are sourced from a single vineyard, the wine is a near perfect reflection of the vintage.”

Shiraz grapes on the vine in the Graveyard vineyard.

Over the years, both the vineyard and winemaking have evolved. Following the drought that affected the 2003 vintage, irrigation was introduced to improve consistency, while a shift in the winery has refined the wine’s expression. “One of the biggest evolutions has been our oak regime,” Stuart explains. The move to predominantly older French oak puncheons has delivered “more freshness and purity, which allows the vineyard to shine through with the oak complementing the fruit rather than distracting.”

Despite these changes, Stuart believes the wine’s identity remains intact. “It has a stamp that speaks of Graveyard, regardless of the vintage or the Winemaker that has crafted the wine.”

The 2024 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz is available now. To read Halliday Taster Toni Paterson MW's review and purchase the wine, see below.