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Pondering Hunter Valley Semillon

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Every great, classic wine is born of a knife-edge. Benchmark whites – especially fresh, firm-spined whites - usually come from cool edges. Think of German Riesling, Burgundian Chardonnay, Loire Sauvignon and Galician Albariño.

Hunter Valley is an (Australian) spitting distance from Sydney. This is the oldest wine region in Australia, with some of the oldest vines not just of that country, but (thanks to Phylloxera) of the world. Hunter is home to some of the most famous and established names in Australian winemaking, such as Drayton, Tulloch and McWilliams.

The source of this fame is invigorating, nuanced and white: Hunter Valley Semillon is described as iconic, and a benchmark. It accounts for a tiny percentage (about 3) of Australian wine output. This is a specialist offering. Wine geeks adore it, but Semillon is under the radar of many wine consumers. When it comes to Australian whites, I find lower awareness of Hunter Valley Semillon than of the persuasive parvenu Chardonnay, and of the widely planted and (in Australia at least) revered Riesling. While producers of those two varieties are still perfecting a quest for longevity, Hunter Valley Semillon is unique among dry Australian whites for its proven capacity, even destiny, for 10 plus years of ever-blossoming life.

The Hunter is an improbable place to make fresh white wine. (As witnessed by its success with ripe, full reds from that sun-lover, Shiraz.) New South Wales is hot and humid. Hunter Valley Semillon is a benchmark because it is an expression of the time-honoured magic intersection behind all great wine. City needs wine. Environment near city challenging for wine. Humans forced to come up with something and stumble across a happy accident of a particular grape, in a particular place, treated in a particular way. 

Hunter Valley Semillon is picked very early. Grape sugars are moderate, and acidities notably fresh. In more ‘suitable’ climates, such as Bordeaux, this approach yields fresh, grassy wines of modest intensity and fairly anonymous character. In the Hunter, the hot days and warm nights turbo-charge the ripening and developing of flavour compounds. High humidity joins the ripening effort, by reducing water stress and encouraging vine metabolism.

These early picked wines are therefore a delicious paradox. Fresh acidity and modest (10-11%) alcohol combine with complex, nuanced fruit of honey, grass and citrus. Texture, especially with age, is a joy of good Hunter Valley Semillon. It is glossy, mouth coating and refined. With age, the golden colour, smoky aromatics and slinky weight might make you suspect some new oak ageing, but you’d be wrong. Hunter Semillon is (as far as I know) always oak-free. Funny, when you think how the ‘other’ great, dry age-worthy Semillon – the wonderful white Graves of Bordeaux – do so well with oak-aged Semillon. But then, Hunter Semillon is only like itself. And that’s why it’s a treasure.

We have some lovely Hunter Valley Semillon from Tower Estate available here.
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