Single Vineyard Series – Vernon Semillon

The 2014 Hunter vintage has gone down as one of the greats. It was quite unlike any other I have experienced, and served as a great source of creative inspiration in the winery. Amongst the new blends and alternative styles we developed, I also made the decision to individually process, ferment, and mature six parcels of fruit that would form a new range of Single Vineyard wines.

The concept was simple; select the highest quality parcels of Semillon and Shiraz coming into the winery, and give each identical (as much as practically possible) winemaking treatments. The resulting wines would then serve as individual expressions of the vineyard, variety, and this extraordinary season. Differences between the personalities of the wines would be a function of these factors, and not as a result of my hand as a winemaker.

I’ve worked with David and Sue Vernon for twelve years now. Their family has owned the property for over seventy years, and twenty years ago they planted Semillon (DA16162 clone). The vineyard sits on one of the most picturesque vistas in the Hunter – an easterly facing slope on the hills of Mount View, overlooking the Davis vineyards, and Bistro Molines. The soil is red volcanic, tending to grey loam as you move down the steep slope, and the vines are dry grown. Despite the multiple (silver) medal contribution it made to the Single Vineyard Series wine show tally, the Semillon from this site is the outlier in terms of style. For this very reason, I feel it presents a unique story, definitely worth telling. Being dry grown, and on red soil, the Vernon Semillon is the most robust of the three, with greater generosity of flavour, and more texture across the palate. Fruit flavours tend to the tropical spectrum, though this is set against the contrasting backdrop of more grassy notes, creating an endearing style, and a polar opposite of the other two in the range

• RegionHunter Valley, New South Wales
• Vintage2014
• TypeWhite Wine
• VarietySemillon
• ClosureScrewCap