Within the revered HVD estate, the Old Vines Chardonnay block, rooted in the soil since 1908, holds the esteemed title of the world’s oldest Chardonnay vineyard still producing exceptional fruit.

Located beside Moores creek about 3.5 kilometres north of the Tyrrells winery, the HVD vineyard was first planted in 1908 by the Hunter Valley Distillery Company, which was formed in 1903 when the demand for spirits and fortified wines was high. The distillery was designed to take excess grapes for distillation into spirits for the manufacture of fortified wines. Penfolds leased the vineyard in 1933 and bought it in 1948. Murray Tyrrell always said that it was one of the finest white wine vineyards in the Hunter and it was a coup for Tyrrells when he bought it in 1982/83. The vineyard, which sits at an elevation of about 85 metres on alluvial sandy clay loam, contains a mixture of Semillon (4.29 hectares) and Chardonnay (1.1 hectares) vines, the latter making up the oldest block of Chardonnay in the world. It provides the grapes for our HVD Chardonnay and HVD Semillon.