Brokenwood Semillon 2022

It is important to remember that this is the basic Brokenwood release, the standard, the bottom rung if you must. So you’d expect a decent wine for good value, without getting too carried away. Imagine my surprise… This is a stunning young Semillon. 2022 saw the weather gods doing their utmost to force local winemakers into their best Noah and the Ark impersonations, and while that may impact the reds, even that remains to be seen. Hunter winemakers are not unfamiliar with a touch of precipitation and have learnt to handle it. If ever anyone wanted evidence of this, here you have it. What a cracking young white! Apparently, wine show judges are in agreement as it has already picked up at least one trophy. If this is the bottom rung, bring on the ’22 big guns.

The colour is just the vaguest hint of lemon. The nose confirms this as very much the modern form of Hunter Sem – while retaining the ability to age for many years, there is also flavour galore in its early days. Good intensity and pinpoint focus with excellent length and a fine line of acidity. Lemon drop notes, fresh citrus, hints of ginger – a wine which dances. Fresh, balanced, full of life and very long, enjoy this now but please put a case away to share over the next decade. Try this, put a case of this away for a decade and at the same time, a case of a good Premier Cru Burgundy which costs five or six times as much, and then see which you prefer. You’ll wonder why you waste money on famous wines.

Ken Gargett

Contributor at Winepilot

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.

Wine writer and critic