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.
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