Region · New South Wales, Australia
Hunter Valley
HUN-ter
Semillon that waits
A humid New South Wales valley that picks Semillon lean and watches it turn to toast over a decade — plus Shiraz of a medium, savory school.
- lemon
- toast
- beeswax
- green tea
- earth
Hunter Semillon is picked at low alcohol, bottled early, and not oaked. At two years it tastes slight. At ten it is lemon butter and toast. That delayed payoff is one of wine's great tricks.
Shiraz here is not Barossa: it is medium, earthy, and sometimes a little farmyard in a way that Rhône drinkers understand.
Roast chicken for aged Semillon; lamb for the Shiraz.
At the table
Service
Young Semillon 46 °F (8 °C); aged 50–54 °F (10–12 °C); Shiraz 61 °F (16 °C).
