What’s in Your Wine Cellar? Sipping Sémillon All Summer Long
Summer is here and the wine is chilling. While rosé and sauvignon blanc have found their way to the most popular aisles of the wine store, there is another varietal that deserves to be recognized as a seasonal favorite – Hunter Valley (semillon).
Sémillon is a versatile grape that originated in the Bordeaux region of France and is most commonly featured in blends alongside sauvignon blanc and muscadelle as well as in popular dessert wines. Underrated and overshadowed everywhere else, sémillon has found its home in the New World - the Hunter Valley region of Australia, just north of Sydney, where it continues to exceed expectations as a lower alcohol white wine with incredible range and dynamic composition.
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Hunter Valley produces some of the most notable, distinct and elegant dry whites in the world. A magnificent place with wine as diverse as the climate and soil, Hunter Valley sémillon is a novelty that shines as the star of the Australian wine community. As a result of enthusiastic planting and pristine winemaking, varietal sémillon became an unexcepted hit that transformed the tradition of the region forever. Harvested early to produce wines with lower alcohol content, the extraordinary legacy of Hunter Valley sémillon boasts beautiful balance, bright acidity and captivating longevity – a wine with two very different personalities that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.
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Young sémillon reflects the purity of the fruit, presenting snappy, tart wines that are clean, light and razor sharp on the palate, complemented by a burst of vibrant acidity. These zesty expressions exude fresh aromas like hay, white flowers and citrus and pair well with anything from oysters and sushi to goat cheese and mild Indian food. For drinking young, consider vintages from Allandale, Brokenwood, Margan and Hart & Hunter. Sémillon in its youth can be stark and timid, but given time to age, it blossoms into something truly unique; a magical transformation happens in the bottle that allows the edginess to melt away, revealing a remarkable full-bodied wine that radiates beauty and strength.
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The astonishing allure of sémillon is its ability to age gracefully for decades. After just five years, it emerges from simplicity into an intriguingly complex, toasted white wine that is softer and richer with a satisfying combination of citrus, honey, brioche and roasted cashew, along with a delightful lanolin-like texture. Older, sweeter sémillon is the ultimate indulgence, with exquisite depth and dimension that pairs perfectly with full-flavored cheeses and pâté. Tyrrell’s Vat 1, McLeish Estate, Tim Adams and Mount Pleasant Lovedale are the bottles worth cellaring. With time, the acidic, apprehensive wine we once knew matures magnificently, becoming rounder, nutty, savory and surprisingly powerful, capable of evolving even further for years to come.
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We love a wine that does it all and Hunter Valley sémillon certainly delivers. Sémillon is the porch pounder of the season and Sotheby’s Wine’s distinct collection offers something for everyone to sip on this summer.