Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 ILR Reserve Semillon is the oldest on the table here in this vertical of ILR Semillon, and when I place this glass next to the 2024 vintage, the difference is evident but not appreciable. That's an impressive feat for a 15-year age gap. So, this 2009 leads with aromas of cold buttered toast, preserved lemon rind, crushed shells, white pepper and brine. It is salty, and it is fine, but it is also light, dry and streamlined.
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Wine Enthusiast
For a wine at seven years of age, this is remarkably undeveloped. Hints of celery leaf and apple accent tart citrus fruit, still mouthwateringly crisp. There's some richness on the palate, but hold through at least 2020 if you prefer mature notes of honey, marmalade and toast.
Cellar Selection -
Wine & Spirits
Reduced at first, this opens from flinty restriction toward lush, caramelized lemon flavors and hazelnut scents. It’s creamy and rich, developing deeper tones of orange and smoke with air. A textural pleasure, especially in the company of miso-glazed black cod.
Sémillon has the power to create wines with considerable structure, depth and length that will improve for several decades. It is the perfect partner to the vivdly aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. Sémillon especially shines in the Bordeaux region of Sauternes, which produces some of the world’s greatest sweet wines. Somm Secret—Sémillon was so common in South Africa in the 1820s, covering 93% of the country’s vineyard area, it was simply referred to as Wyndruif, or “wine grape.”
Most admired for citrus-driven, mineral-rich and often age-worthy Semillon wines, Hunter Valley is one of Australia’s oldest wine regions and was home to its very first commercial vineyards. The region’s warm summer nights coupled with autumn cloud cover and cool sea breezes allow full ripening and healthy acidity levels for Semillon; its diverse soils of volcanic basalt and white alluvial sands promote the development of Semillon’s delicate aromas. Hunter Valley Semillons can certainly be enjoyed in their youth but with 10 to 20 years in the cellar, the best examples develop intriguing notes of honey, browned butter and roasted nuts.
Chardonnay and Shiraz also do well in Hunter Valley.