"Hunter Semillon is a national treasure, with no true equivalent anywhere else, either in Australia or overseas. Fresh, crisp and bracing in its youth, it is transformed and transfused with age, moving from pale straw to a glowing green-gold as it approaches maturity somewhere between its tenth and twentieth birthday. The transformation is a gradual one, allowing a continuous voyage of discovery as the wine moves through the various phases of its life."
James Halliday
As Mr Halliday suggests, Hunter Valley Semillon is a rather unique product in the world of wine, and can lay claim to being one of Australia’s few truly individual wine styles (along with Rutherglen Muscat & Tokay).
Hunter Semillon’s difference starts at the variety itself. Traditionally, Semillon has been viewed mainly as a blending grape – It’s dry, neutral & often simple green apple characters often translating into blandness. It is for this reason that Semillon is routinely blended with Sauvignon Blanc, crafting the classic dry white blends of Margaret River & Bordeaux. Interestingly though Semillon is also the main component of many of our finest dessert wines – the botrytised, concentrated, late picked Semillon fruit producing the richest of ‘stickies’ from Australia’s inland river regions & also the famous French Sauternes.
Ultimately, Hunter Semillon is vinously odd - 100% Semillon based, picked early, at very low alcohols (hovering between 10-11.5% alc/vol compared to 13.5% for most other whites) unoaked (fermented in stainless steel) & regularly able to mature in the bottle for 20 yrs+. Nowhere else in the world does Semillon ‘work’ like it does in the NSW Hunter Valley.
But why does Semillon perform like this? And why only in the Hunter? For answers, we should really start at the beginning. The Hunter Valley is one of Australia’s oldest vineyard areas, with plantings traceable back to the pioneer of Australian wine, James Busby, a man whose famous vine cuttings can lay claim to establishing the Australian wine industry. Whilst the Hunter Valley has little plantings that can be traced back to the original early 1830’s vines, a Hunter Semillon produced by James King won a medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1855 & the wine was placed on the table of the Emperor Napoleon at the closing ceremony.
There have been considerable changes to the Hunter wine scene since then, but the quality white wine roots were sown (although back then Semillon was known as ‘Riesling’ amongst a host of other names….). It is suitable then that truly ancient vines, some now reaching 115 years of age, still produce some of the finest Hunter Semillons (Vines surrounding Tyrrells Ashman’s Hunter Valley Winery for example are over 120yrs old). These ancient vines can lay claim to being easily the oldest white grape vines in Australia, now producing super low yields of intensely flavoured grapes, with the remarkable consistency of well established vines all surviving on their own rootstocks, producing glorious wines somewhat regardless of the season.
The next clue to Hunter Semillons success lies in the soil. Traditionally, the best Hunter Semillon is grown on the silty, sandy ancient river beds – largely infertile soil, relatively low in nutrients with often high proportions of clay. This harsh soil conditions tend to promote deep root growth in vines, whilst simultaneously reducing vine vigour, which all ultimately leads to tougher, stronger vines that produce smaller crops and inversely intense fruit flavours.
Finally, the last element that has contributed to producing this utterly unique wine style is the Hunter Valley climate – A challenging place to grow grapes. The Hunter Valley receives around 750mm of rain per year, with over 2/3 of this occurring between October and April (the grape growing season). An interesting flow on effect of this is that humidity remains high, which when combined with the afternoon sea breezes, effectively modulates the summer temperatures and creates perfect ripening conditions. Similarly, Hunter Semillon is deliberately picked early enough that it misses the torrential monsoonal rains that characterise the area in February & March, leaving it disease free & losing no flavour intensity to the flavour diluting effects of torrential rain.
Beyond the background influences, the reason why Hunter Semillon is so unique is that it is an absolute chameleon, with an innate ability to transform in the bottle. Most white wines tend to grow weight, become more rounded, integrated & more complex as they get older. Semillon takes this to the next level.
In its youth, classic Hunter Valley Semillon shows floral, simple characters of green apple, grass & citrus blossom, coupled with a palate that is intensely dry, grapefruit & green appley in an elegant & citrussy, with prominent acidity. However, given at least 6 years of bottle age, the style changes, with the nose taking on characters of toast, vanilla, limes & lanolin, the palate changing from lean, green & minerally tight into a rich, mouthfilling and honeyed jewel, without losing the mouth watering acidity.
Perhaps the most intriguing character of this style is that although Hunter Semillon sees no oak fermentation or maturation of any kind, you would swear that an aged wine has seen oak – such is the dominant, Chardonnay like buttery richness. Think of it like a Eastern Blue Groper, which grows up as a dull brownish coloured female until it reaches maturity, at which point it becomes a male and starts turning a bright blue colour!
Ultimately the attraction of Hunter Semillon also comes down to that elusive, maligned French term ‘terroir’, as the style is about as close as possible to the flavours of the grapes – no oak, minimal handling & no winemaker’s edifice (interference). When coupled with the quite unique environment that is the Hunter Valley, little wonder then that our Hunter Semillon is such an unusual, evolving & involving wine.
Wines to Try
To experience the individual & utterly Australian product that is a Hunter Valley Semillon, there are several makers that produce classic styles, many of whom release wines both young and old (a perfect way to get a better understanding of the style). Including:
Tyrrells: Widely considered to be the top Semillon producers in the Hunter Valley, their single vineyard Semillon’s display perfect style with minimal vintage inconsistencies. Most of their Semillons are released with a minimum of 5 yrs bottle age, however the highly celebrated Vat 1 Semillon is often released as a younger wine (at the cellar door only) for a considerable discount. Well worth seeking out this range of epic, trophy heavy wines.
Mount Pleasant (Mcwilliams): Another venerable Hunter institution with suitably stunning Semillons. In this range the ‘Elizabeth’ represents mind blowing value for money, released with a similar 5 yrs of bottle age and showing the first hints of aged characters even considering its quite modest price. Above this lies the single vineyard Lovedale Semillon – one of the finest in the valley, always drips with trophies. A must try.
Brokenwood: Sourced from richer soils than the many others, the Brokenwood produces a very popular and quite approachable younger Semillon as well as a late released and very rare ILR Reserve Semillon, a wine with considerable complexity and a little more body than many other reserve styles.
Lindemans: Lindemans have along the way been credited with producing some of the finest white wines ever produced in the Hunter. The revered 1970 ‘Hunter River Chablis (sic)’ is one of the most revered show wines in the history of Australian winemaking & after numerous changes in management over the past decade, the wine quality is finally back on the rise again. A Winery to watch.
Meerea Park: Led by the talented Rhys Eather, Meerea Park is a relatively new player, but supplied by some really awesome Hunter vineyards (as shown in recent show results). Try the Alexander Munro Semillon for an example of the classically long lived style.
Thomas Wines: A very new comer onto the scene, but again a talented winemaker & a first up fantastic wine. The Braemore is an epic Semillon, coming off a glorious 35 yr old Semillon vineyard & showing particularly well already.
For more Semillon & to purchase some of these wines, click here
The feature this issue is perhaps the most important skill that any taster can master, the one skill that will allow you to remain upright no matter how many wines you drink. – The spit.
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