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| Tyrrell's Short Flat vineyard, the source of much of their top semillon |
If you are tasting a young Hunter Valley semillon for the first time it can make you wonder what all the fuss is about.
A young
Hunter Semillon can be very pale, almost colourless and show only faint aromas
of citrus and possibly straw. And thee seems to be a lot more acid on the finish
than the fruit can sustain.
Unfortunately,
you may have to wait five years or more for the variety’s full glory to show.
But when it
does, it is something else again. That colourless wine has transformed into a
green-gold explosion of honey, citrus and toasty characters that almost overwhelm
the senses.
Whenever I am at a wine show exhibitors’ tasting, I head for the aged Semillon classes as there a just so many gems to taste. Even the wines awarded bronze medals can be something special while the gold medal winners are often sublime.
I have
always had a couple favourite Hunter semillons, Tyrrell’s Vat 1 and Mount
Pleasant Lovedale. I prefer Vat 1 but it really just a matter of style. Both,
particularly with bottle age, are amazing, world-class wines that are
under-appreciated and under-valued. While some top wines now can fetch $100 or up
equivalent quality Australian chardonnays sell for much more, while comparable French
white burgundies are literally hundreds of dollars a bottle more.
Intriguingly, many of the best are also quite low in alcohol, with many in the 10% to 12% range, proving you don't have to have lashings of alcohol to make wines that last.
For more
information go to
www.brokenwood.com.au
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