Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with seafood.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Classic Hunter Valley Sem, if maybe just a little fruit-forward. Like tasting light-bodied lime juice that finishes fresh and clean. Drink it now with oysters, or put some aside for up to 10 years for it to develop toast, honey and marmalade aged characters.
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Wine Spectator
An intriguing juxtaposition between a crisp, refreshing body and rich notes of toast, vanilla, peach, honey and spice. Shows terrific focus and intensity. A minerally detail kicks in on the long finish.
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.