Gundog Estate The Chase Hunter Valley Semillon 2023
- 95
- $35
- Drink by: 2023-2030
Share
This take no time, maybe a nano-second, to reveal its varietal personality. That scent: green apple, chamomile, lime, lime zest. It’s lean, clean and pure. That palate: dusty, lime zest spark, gooseberry, lemongrass with a touch of saline-rockpool. It’s a force-full presence, vibrant and tight in brisk acidity. This is so Hunter Valley Semillon. The fact that it is picked early with 11% alc. informs the drinker that this Semillon is in the classic Hunter style, one that is intended for some serious bottle ageing. And while it might have age on its mind, it does deliver right now. Sourced from old vines according to the label – just how old is not said – it does bring that heady mix of purity of quality fruit with no oak injection, combined with a fine-ness of Semillon expression that is quite unique to the Hunter and Australia.
Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
