Brokenwood ILR Reserve Semillon 2017
- 98
- $100
- Drink by: 2023-2043
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The stunning 2014 ILR was from the Trevena Vineyard and they have repeated the dose with the 2017, both stunning vintages. Trevena was planted in 1926 on the white sandy soil adjacent to Hermitage Road. 11% alcohol and a gleaming very pale lemon hue. The nose reveals early hints of development but there is so much more to come. We have citrus, toast, lemon curd, hints of nuts, a touch of beeswax and glacéd fruits. Great intensity, and yet there is also immaculate balance; such length! Fine acidity, this wine is just beginning what promises to be a glorious journey, surely twenty years plus. After trying this wine, if you are still not convinced that great Hunter Semillon deserves its place among the great white wines on the planet then I cannot help you. It goes without saying that a wine of this quality at this price is a ridiculous bargain.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
