Mitchell Semillon 2012
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2002-
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Mitchell's two original vineyards within the Clare District are at Watervale neat the Southern end of the region, and at Sevenhill, near the winery. Riesling and Cabernet were the original varieties produced, but the additions of Shiraz, Semillon and Grenache over the years have added tremendously to the Mitchell offering. Andrew grew up in the Clare Valley, and has always had tremendous respect for the area's fruit quality, in particular Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Both Andrew and Jane earned formal degrees in Wine Science and Wine Production, respectively, and have been instrumental in developing the justly deserved worldwide recognition for Clare and its wines over the past 25 years.
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.”
The Clare Valley is actually a series of narrow north to south valleys, each with a different soil type and slightly different weather patterns along their stretch. In the southern heartland between Watervale and Auburn, there is mainly a crumbled, red clay loam soil called terra rossa and cool breezes come in from Gulf St. Vincent. A few miles north, in Polish Hill, is soft, red loam over clay; westerlies blowing in from the Spencer Gulf influece this area's climate.
The differences in soil, elevation, degree of slope and weather enable the region to produce some of Australia’s finest, aromatic, spicy and lime-pithy Rieslings, as well as excellent Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec with ripe plummy fruit, good acid and big structure.
Clare Valley is an isolated farming country with a continental climate known for its warm and sunny days, followed by cool nights—perfect for wine grapes’ development of sugar and phenolic ripeness in conjunction with notable acidity levels.