Winemaker Notes
A vintage where the great vineyards showed their class with Vat 1 being the prime example of this. A wine that shows both elegance and power. It has lifted citrus aromas and a seamless palate structure showing the typical Vat 1 powerful fruit core. This is balanced by the wine’s texture and soft acid profile.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
Hand-picked in the early morning, lightly pressed before relatively cool fermentation. This is still in its infancy but is gloriously well balanced, which guaratnees youth at 10yo, maturity at 20 and age yet further down the track.
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.