Hunter Valley Semillon

It’s a great style of wine and I enjoyed a 93 Elizabeth over the weekend, but there are only ever a few names that are mentioned in the top tier - to be a great wine style i think you need more than 2 top wine makers.

Thomas is worth checking out and the last few years he has has invited another winemakers to make one of his own cuvées - bit like the Bdx Winemakers Series that came out in the mid noughties.

I had the Tyrrells 08 Futures Semillon just before Xmas and it was lovely. I understand that its just an aged version of the standard Semillon that club members were able to buy. Either, way, it’s not one of the top names and it had aged very well. If you pick the right vintage then you can have a good wine in the cellar for a low price.

Over In Barossa they have Semillon as well and there is a patch that has the oldest Semillon vines in the world. Not drunk a lot of it, but it would be worth seeking out Chateau Tanunda 150 Year Old Old Vine Semillon and the Cirillo 1850 Semillon for a comparison.

Years ago i went to a Fermoy tasting in Rotterdam. The winemaker was there and we tried a few bottles of their Margaret River Semillon. It had a bit more body than a Hunter version, but the older bottle of the tasting had the lovely toasty notes you get from old Hunter. Another area that is worth checking out.
 
Keith Prothero said:
Great wine but for me needs another ten years to be at its best. By the way, don’t forget Boekenhoutskloof Semillon. Had the 2003 a few weeks ago and it was nearly as good as the VAT 1. Problem of course is that you won’t be able to buy any vintages with reasonable bottle age
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Just had an email from L&W raving about the 2020. Tim Atkins gave it 99 (yeah, OK) and Neal Martin gave it 95 (now I'm interested!).
The 2019 is significantly cheaper, so I've bought a couple of each. Will probably try to sell off my excess Cape Syrah to fund it.
 
At the risk of sounding tedious please repeat after me….

Hunter Valley Semillon picked early, fermented quickly and bottled almost immediately is NOT the same thing as Semillon picked at normal ripeness level, fermented and then put in new oak for two years.

The only thing they have in common is the word Semillon printed on the label. To compare them is like comparing Mosel Spatlese with Clare Valley riesling.

Rant over.
 
Mark Palmer said:
At the risk of sounding tedious please repeat after me….

Hunter Valley Semillon picked early, fermented quickly and bottled almost immediately is NOT the same thing as Semillon picked at normal ripeness level, fermented and then put in new oak for two years.

The only thing they have in common is the word Semillon printed on the label. To compare them is like comparing Mosel Spatlese with Clare Valley riesling.

Rant over.
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Quite so. A unique style of wine.

Perhaps we should have an offline at some point, although I'm not sure what food we should have. Quiche, salad and seafood might work best.
 
Well if you do have the offline, then I shall happily provide a few bottles of SA Semillon with at least 20 years bottle age. My bet is you won’t be able to tell the difference as I suggest that none of you have tasted a SA Semillon with such bottle age . And , just for the record, I love both Hunter and Boekenhoutskloof, plus Landau du Val ——-the latter made from a very small parcel of 110 year old vines.
 
David Pope said:
Quite so. A unique style of wine.

Perhaps we should have an offline at some point, although I'm not sure what food we should have. Quiche, salad and seafood might work best.
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The starter (beets & eel balls) and 2nd course (boudin blanc with crackling and some celeriac(?) puree) from Aussie wimps both worked well with the Lovedale, so I suspect it's one of those styles that is extremely food-versatile.
 
Keith Prothero said:
Well if you do have the offline, then I shall happily provide a few bottles of SA Semillon with at least 20 years bottle age. My bet is you won’t be able to tell the difference as I suggest that none of you have tasted a SA Semillon with such bottle age . And , just for the record, I love both Hunter and Boekenhoutskloof, plus Landau du Val ——-the latter made from a very small parcel of 110 year old vines.
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Do you know if anyone in SA has tried the oak-free method as used by the top HV producers?
 
The "Lovedale Semillon" and the "Lovedale Semillon 1946 Vines" are not the same wine.
The "1946 Vines" bottling only began with the 2014 vintage and is a "Veilles vignes" cuvee, if you like.
I believe the vineyard was planted in 1946.

They're doing a similarly confusing thing with the shirazes: the Rosehill vineyard has since begat (apart from the 'normal' bottle) a "1946 Vines" and a "1965 Vines" bottlings.

There's also an "Old Hill 1880 vines" shiraz and an "Old Paddock 1921 Vines" shiraz, even though the "Old Paddock and Old Hill" wine is still in production for 30+ years.
All of these come at a serious price premium and a made in small quantities.
They're good wines, but hardly worth chasing from the other side of the world!
 
I think it would be hard to tell the difference between any Semillon wine once it gets to that old stage - when it deepens in colour and looks like a Sauternes. Before that, I think you can readily tell difference between Hunter and other areas, although i think it’s easier with the leaner, lower quality wines - the Vat 1 bottles of I have drink are a bit fatter and I can imagine them being harder to pick out against very good South African versions.
 
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