Hunter Valley Semillon - The True Blue Chameleon

"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

Sold on Shiraz

Shiraz, Syrah, ‘Shee-Rahz’ or the latest high brow attempt ‘Shi-ra’. Shiraz, in its many forms, is the mainstay of the Aussie wine industry: The ‘go-to’ variety that initially put Australian wine on the map; the shining mascot of our dynamic and modern wine industry. The question is, why do we call it Shiraz? A grape variety that on its traditional European soil is known as Syrah (and has been for centuries), yet over just 180 years we have given transformed Syrah into Shiraz – giving Syrah the ‘Strayan’ treatment and came out with our much loved ‘Shiraz’!

Historically, Shiraz was one of the first varieties to arrive in Australia, (with references by the wine pioneer, James Busby, to the early misspellings of the word Syrah). However, it wasn’t until the late 1980’s that Shiraz really begun to garner worldwide attention. In 2006, there is no doubting the domination of Aussie Shiraz, both here and abroad. Almost one quarter of the wine produced in this country comes from Shiraz & it continues to be our most exported variety – with our eSnormous export growth fuelled by a parallel growth in Shiraz production.

In world terms, few grape varieties express their national character like Aussie Shiraz. The constant undertone of ripe, rich and luscious fruit characters is stamped into Shiraz Australia wide. Even the coolest of cool climate Shiraz shares this sunny, generosity & flavour. Shiraz has evolved to the point where it’s now a brand name – a wine formula that is copied worldwide, yet nowhere is this fruit intensity achieved on the same broad, consistent scale.

Stylistically, Australian Shiraz runs the whole gamut of flavours and fashions, reflecting the range of regional and climatic conditions where Shiraz finds its home. They range from: elegant, peppery, cool climate styles (Grampians, Vic or Pemberton, WA); intensely flavoured, savoury, spicy styles of Coonawarra and Margaret River; powerful and minty (Clare Valley); sweet and chocolatey (McLaren Vale); muscular, and ripe-fruited (Barossa); or leathery and rich (Hunter Valley).

Every style has emerged from Shiraz, which has traditionally been blended in both cool and warm climates with Cabernet Sauvignon is also blended with Grenache and Mourvedre in warm climates.

In recent years, with the availability of increased plantings of Viognier in Australia, winemakers have increasingly blended Shiraz Viognier combinations. Typically, Shiraz Viognier blends have a perfumed aroma and softer tannins, transforming occasionally gruff Shiraz into a softer, sexier style & crafting wines suitable to enjoy while relatively young.

Click here for our Shiraz range

Why Oak?

Let’s talk biology. When we discuss wine, we focus almost exclusively on the grape vine, Vitis vinifera, in its many varieties. But there are two other organisms crucial to wine production that are often forgotten about. The first is the yeast, Saccharomyces; without which our favourite tipple would just be grape juice. The second – and the subject of this piece – is the oak tree, Quercus.

An odd choice, you might think. However, oak’s accidental association with wine has been a critical one. The majority of premium red wines are dependent on oak barrels for a vital component of their flavour, as are a good number of whites.

The reason oak barrels were initially chosen for storing wine in had nothing to do with the flavouring effects they have: it’s simply that in the past, barrels were used as all-purpose containers, and oak is a tight-grained wood capable of making leak-proof barrels ideal for storing liquids in. The shape of the barrel makes it extremely strong and once on its side it can be moved by rolling, even when full.

The barrel-manufacturing process involves heating the staves (the oak slats that make up a barrel) over a brazier so that they can be bent into shape. Somewhat fortuitously, this slight charring – referred to as ‘toasting’ – coupled with the chemical properties of the wood, means that the interaction of the wine with the inside of a new barrel imparts pronounced flavour characteristics to the wine. When used appropriately, new barrels can have a significant beneficial impact on the wine that is aged in them.

Another equally important, but less talked about, effect of ageing wine in barrels is that this allows a very slight and controlled exposure to oxygen. Normally, winemakers do all they can to avoid exposing their wines to air, but in this case the low-level oxidation that barrels permit is beneficial to the structure and character of the wine.

So how does oak affect the flavour of the finished wine? For red wines, barrels often add a little spice, enhance the structure, and may add some sweet vanillin characters. A white wine that has been fermented and aged in barrels will often have a noticeable nutty, buttery character along with the spice and vanilla characteristics that reds often pick up. Barrel aged wines are generally a little more complex and have a more interesting texture than those aged in tank, although some white grape varieties, such as Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc rarely benefit from being oaked, often sacrificing the vitality and freshness that is intrinsic to these aromatic grapes.

A key difference in the effect of oak barrels is whether they are composed of French or American oak. If you ever get a chance to try side-by-side cask samples of the same wine aged in French and American oak, take it: the differences are significant. The relatively wide-grained American oak imparts a much stronger flavour, with more obvious sweet coconut flavours and spicy notes. French oak has a more subtle, slightly more savoury vanillin effect. Imagine the two oak influences to be like differing vanilla ice creams - American oak is a big, buttery creamy yellow ice cream, whereas the French oak is whiter, softer, finer and milkier

Both have their fans, with a concerted push in recent years towards French oak in an attempt to reign in overt new oak influences. Ultimately, producers have to decide which oak characters suits their wine better, although cost can be a factor here. French barrels are much more expensive than American ones. The degree of ‘toast’ and even the manufacturer of the barrel are also important factors in the effect barrels have on the wine.

A crucial variable here is the age of the barrel. New barrels impart the most flavour, and this effect is subsequently diminished with each re-use of the barrel, so that third-use barrels don’t add much flavour at all. Many producers juggle their barrels carefully, ageing their wine in a mix of new and used barrels to avoid over-oaking it. Great care must be taken with the use of older barrels, since they can harbour bacteria and yeasts that might contaminate the wine.

Because new barrels are expensive, their use is usually reserved for premium wines. But winemakers are only human: they want the beneficial effects of oak for their cheaper wines as well, without the high cost. As a result, barrel substitutes have become increasingly popular. These can range from small oak chips in teabag-like nets to barrel staves bolted into the inside of the tank. Results can be variable, and are generally not as good as those achieved by barrels. If you see the words ‘oaked’ on the label of an inexpensive wine without mention of barrels, the chances are one of these alternative techniques has been used.

A hi-tech twist on this theme is a technique called micro-oxygenation. This process aims to simulate the gradual, low-level exposure to oxygen that occurs in barrel. A specialized device is set up inside the tank that releases a slow stream of tiny oxygen bubbles in a controlled manner. The exact scientific basis isn’t clear, but it’s a technique that’s becoming widely adopted. Converts claim that it enhances the structure, stabilizes the colour, and removes unwanted vegetal notes from red wines treated in this fashion. Increasingly, micro-oxygenation is being used in tandem with oak chips in a sophisticated emulation of the process of barrel ageing, but at a much-reduced cost. However, this is a technique still in its infancy, and it’s hard to gauge its likely take-up with winemakers currently using the real thing. Whatever happens, it looks likely that the historical association between wine and oak is likely to be an enduring one. (www.wineanorak.com)

Vintages - do they really matter?

Underneath it all, wine is just fermented grape juice. Once you put aside all the romantic notions of wine as a living, changing being, then all you are left with is an agricultural product – a product that is made in the vineyard, from the berries of a plant.

As any farmer will tell you, nature is entirely unpredictable; with one year producing scorching heat and droughts, the next hail and frost. This process is translated directly into the taste of our wines, with the searing heat perhaps producing ripe and full bodied wines, followed by a year of absolutely nothing (thanks to a devastating late afternoon hail storm). The flow on effect comes in the form of a year printed on every label, signifying the date when the grapes where picked and first turned into wine. The challenge with wine is thus that no two ‘vintages’ are ever the same, each year producing a wine that tastes totally unique (and may often taste completely different every year!).

To a marketing department, this is a major inconvenience: they would like wine to resemble other drinks, such as beer, vodka or scotch, where the agricultural product is just a rather anonymous starting point in the manufacturing process. For branded wines, the variation between vintages is a major hassle, affecting supply & consistency of style, flavour and character. To the wine nut, vintages are instead a source of variation that adds a delightful complexity to the passion of wine appreciation: after all, with each new vintage, everything is shaken up again, and there is yet more to learn.

It can all get a bit bewildering after a while as there are already enough elements of wine appreciation to get your head around - regions, grape varieties, producers…and now we have vintage variation as well. It’s tempting to just buy a few wine books and pull out the vintage chart – a list of regions, each given a quality score for wine in a certain year- and fully embrace this generalised chart as gospel.

While this works for a general overview, the truth is that vintage charts are purely a subjective opinion, ignoring the fact that wine can taste completely different when produced from different sides of the vineyard, let alone from many producers in a region over a year!

The truth is that there is much more to wine than just ‘good’ and ‘bad’ vintages, with the best wine producers able to produce great wine regardless of the vintage, with some of the ‘off’ vintages presenting themselves as better value and much more interesting in the long run.

So what makes a good vintage? Simply put, the best vintages are those that have the best weather to grow grapes. This translates to the years that have the perfect balance between rain, sunshine & temperature - the years that grow the healthiest, tastiest & most perfect grapes.

The other element to consider is that vintage variations, like temperature variations, are often much less pronounced in warmer regions – thus for regions like the Barossa Valley, Mclaren Vale or Griffith, vintage variations are much less important, because there is much more consistency from year to year in temperature, rainfall and sunshine, ultimately leading to wine that is less subject to massive vintage variations. Conversely, it is the cooler, wetter regions that suffer from the greatest vintage variation – with the cool Southern regions of Tasmania, the heights of Tumbarumba, or the wet areas of Mudgee and much of the Lower Hunter Valley quite significantly affected by changes in the weather.

Vintage variation goes much deeper than just weather though – with pests, soil and even humans able to drastically alter the changing taste of finished wines, as wine shows every nuance it is subject to, just like a blank canvas.

In the world of modern, branded product (particularly in Australia) winemakers are able to blend parcels of fruit from many different regions & effectively remove vintage inconsistency – but in the process essentially stripping all the regional & varietal character out of a wine at the same time.

The best answer to the vintage question is the same lexicon that all wine drinkers should live by- the best wine is the wine you like. Ultimately, unless you are stocking a cellar with the intention of maturing wines for decades, vintage recommendations should be an afterthought. Instead, find yourself a consistently great winery and stick to it- different vintages just make life more interesting.

Blind Wine Tasting? Take the Pepsi Challenge!

No, we aren’t talking about some sort of bizarre drinking game for people with disabilities, but Blind Wine Tasting can be an excellent way to get seriously good value wines.

Blind Wine Tasting is essentially when a wine is presented without the taster knowing what it is. Whether you use a brown bag, bottle covers or an old sock, the main objective of blind tasting is to allow you to try wines without being influenced by what’s on the label, unbiased by the wines reputation, vintage or even the variety.A far more challenging (and intimidating) extension of this is the wine options game – where a group of suitably foolhardy individuals gather around with a clutch of mysteriously obscured bottles and attempt to guess the vintage, variety, region and maker of the masked bottles. This can often be a hilarious game, as it is simply too easy for even the most seasoned, knowledgeable taster can get things very, very wrong.
To add a further dimension, try blind tasting with your eyes shut – Cabernet Sauvignon has a reputation for smelling exactly like Sauvignon Blanc with the lights turned out!

The clear advantage of blind wine tasting though is that it is a great leveller – it is amazing how often when presented with a lineup of masked wines, the $15 bottles end up just as popular as the $30 bottles. This can be used to your wine buying advantage, as you may discover wines that you thought were too expensive/cheap & happily discover great wines.

Pepsi wheeled out a blind tasting road show several years ago, attempting to emphasise how much better their product tasted than its Coca Cola competitor, showing that once you take away all the perceptions associated with packaging & the inherent marketing spiel, its ultimately ‘let(ting) your taste decide’.

But don’t just take our word for it, organise you own blind tasting party! Gather together a likeminded bunch of wine drinkers and tell everyone to bring a bottle of wine (Choose either reds or whites). Stick all the wines into identical bottle bags or socks (No peeking) and randomly mix them up. Then taste away!


Look for:
1.Colour- Is it bright or dull? Does the colour go all the way to the tip? This can indicate the wine age, with the colour on more youthful wines going all the way to the rim. . Note any major differences between the wines, particularly in whites.

2. Aroma- Are the smells pungent or restrained? Write down any obvious smells and particularly note anything that smells ‘un-wine like’ as these are usually dead giveaways to wine faults (Which will ruin any of your attempts to guess the wines identity).

3. Taste- Don’t drink too much too quickly! It’s a tasting after all, so only pour yourself small drinks until the unveiling – then you can decide what you really want to drink. Look for more than just fruit flavours: note if the wine is dry, sweet or rich. If it’s a red, look out for tannins (the drying effect on the back of your tongue) and any other sensations in your mouth.

And finally:

4.Guess what your tasting- If you get it wrong, don’t worry, everyone does! It’s more fun to connect the dots and work out why certain wines taste and smell like they do. If you are only very new to wine tasting, try to guess only the price- It is easily the most surprising factor, and if you find a wine you like and it turns out to be a bargain, then the whole exercise is worth it!
The best advice? Try absolutely every wine you can, regardless of the price, and this will lead you to find the wines you really want to drink.