Peter Lehmann (Australia) Barossa Semillon 2001
Australia’s Hunter Valley is the sweet spot for Semillon, and aficionado’s love these wines for the clean, vibrant fruit character they possess when young, but their extraordinary ability to develop a nutty, toasty character with cellaring. This example, from the Barossa home of the highly-regarded Peter Lehmann, has a pale yellow/emerald green colour, and a nose that slowly unravels to reveal quite complex notes of lanolin, beeswax and honey. There is a core of lime and some orchard fruit. On the palate it is fresh and clean as a whistle (there is no oak at all in this wine) but it is also a surprisingly powerful wine, with a searing core of acidity that runs like a ramrod through zingy citrus fruit. The proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, this is very enjoyable now (I had it with a creamy risotto), but cellaring for five to eight years is also on the cards. Down from £5.49 Oddbins, Sainsbury’s, Safeway, Unwins.
