Winemaker Notes
Sourced from a small selection of some of our top Semillon vineyards around the Hunter Valley. Most of the vineyards are dry grown and have an average vine age of 40 years. The grapes were machine picked in the cool of the night before gentle pressing and fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The wine then spent a short amount of time on yeast lees to gain extra complexity and mouth feel.
Classic Hunter Valley Semillon from another strong vintage. The nose is vibrant with an abundance of citrus fruits and floral elements. The palate is medium bodied, yet intense, with great length and a brisk acidity.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Quite fruity and primary but highly likable, this has oodles of fresh tropical and citrus fruit and orchard-blossom notes. There’s zippy acidity and a little textural weight, making this ultraeasy to knock back, but also a versatile food pairing. It’s a bargain to boot
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James Suckling
Plenty of apple, nettle and pear drop aromas and flavors, with a medium body, attractive fruit and a creamy texture. A balanced and delicious semillon.
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Wine Spectator
An intense version, with Meyer lemon, grilled peach and fresh Honeycrisp apple. Offers plenty of intensity packed into a light, fresh frame that exudes elegance, with a lemon blossom note on the finish. Drink now. 7,000 cases made, 100 cases imported.
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.