Winemaker Notes
It is a classic Hunter Valley Semillon showing a tightly structured palate with considerable length and breadth of citrus fruit flavors. This wine is only just beginning to evolve and show a hint of toasty, bottle aged complexity. An iconic Australian wine from what is a classic vintage for Hunter Valley Semillon.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Beautiful aromas of lemon peel, light beeswax and lemon grass here. There’s a light toasty edge and lemon blossom, too. The palate is elegant, fine and long, really refined and succulent. Very sleek and elegant. Has more to come. Drink now.
-
Wine Spectator
Expressive and bold, with beeswax and lanolin overtones to the crisp lemon, ginger and peach flavors, delivering plenty of momentum on the long finish. Drink now.
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.