Semillon

This variety for which the Hunter Valley is best known grows extremely well in our soils giving it characters not displayed in other grape growing regions of Australia. It is an essentially dry wine with lovely fresh clear, crisp varietal characteristics. As a young wine it is high in acid and presents in a crisp light refreshing style. As it ages it changes to a smoother more buttery wine which has the potential to develop its fruit characteristics over a 7-10 year period under correct cellaring conditions.

Our Semillon is made in traditional Hunter style with the grapes being hand picked earlier rather than later and then cool fermented in stainless steel tanks. The juice is later given time “on the lees” or on top of the skins to give additional flavour.

These wines exhibit the classic citrus flavours of the variety with lemony or lime predominance and are lovely crisp and clear light white wines. These styles go well with seafood or entrees and are good wines to start the meal with or just to enjoy as the first drink of the occasion. Our customers say that these wines are so good with seafood that you do not need to have any lemon or lime with the seafood – just have a glass of our Semillon!

Characteristically Semillon drinks well early, say 2-3 years, and then benefits from several years cellaring before it emerges as a more buttery less citrus oriented wine in its maturity. It may well last up to 10 or more years.

We say Hunter Semillon is like bringing up a family – nice and cute as babies (first 2-3 years for Semillon), then an adolescence, which is a good time to lock the wine away before it emerges as a mature adult.