The Hunter Valley is unquestionably the best known and most highly prized wine region in NewSouthWales. Its most famous wine style is its distinctive Dry Semillon, while Shiraz, is also long-established. It is also regarded as a pioneer of Australian Chardonnay.
Hunter Valley Semillon
Semillon was first planted here in the 1830s.
Hunter Valley Semillons are renowned for their ability to improve with age. The better examples develop in bottle for more than 15 years.
Classic examples are made simply from early picked fruit and bottled Young, with Alcohol levels between 10 and 12 percent. The wines start out with a fresh, grassy, citrus taste with tangy Acidity.
However they evolve into Golden wines with nutty, honeyed notes and a luscious mouthfeel. Though unoaked and not having undergone malolactic fermentation, they can be mistaken for oaky chardonnays, even by experienced tasters.
The valley's relationship with Chardonnay is 100 years shorter, but no less significant. It was here that Australia's first Chardonnay was made – from vines planted by the Tyrrell winery of Pokolbin in 1968.
Pinot grigio is a grey grape variety mutated from Pinot Noir. It has its origins in Burgundy, where it is called pinot-beurot in reference to the colour of the grey robes worn by the monks of the region. Established in Alsace since the 17th century, pinot grigio was called tokay until 2007. It is made up of bunches of small berries that vary in colour from pink to blue-grey. It is particularly well suited to the continental climate because it is resistant to the cold in winter and to spring frosts. This variety also likes dry limestone soils with plenty of sunshine in the summer. pinot grigio is well suited to late harvesting or to the selection of noble grapes, depending on the year and the concentration of sugars in the berries. Pinot grigio wines are distinguished by their aromatic complexity of white fruits, mushrooms, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, etc., and their great finesse. In the Loire Valley, pinot grigio is used in the Coteaux-d'Ancenis appellations. It gives dry or sweet wines with pear and peach aromas.
white wines from the region of Hunter Valley go well with generally quite well with dishes of pork, rich fish (salmon, tuna etc) or vegetarian such as recipes of potjevleesch, sea bass in mustard and rosemary wrappers or light tuna-tomato quiche (without cream).
