Monday, 21 September 2009
If there’s one variety that has consistently copped the rough end of the pineapple over the years it’s probably Semillon. Having been Hunter River Riesling in the days of generic rather than varietal labelling, once that situation changed it got swamped in the rush towards Chardonnay, and then, as ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) kicked in the flood of Kiwi Savvy Blanc brought a wave of SSB and SBS styles where Semillon is blended with Sauvignon Blanc.
When the Pinot Gris/Grigio wave hits Semillon will probably cop it in the neck again. After that, more than likely we’ll see another wave of new varietals shunt it back onto the backburner yet again. Part of the problem, even in the Hunter, which is more or less Semillon Central, is the issue of divergent styles - the citrusy lemon/lime green apple drink now style as opposed to the lay it down style meant for aging, that should eventually develop complex toast and honey characters.
We saw a number of examples of both when we were in the Hunter Valley at the end of ‘05, but weren’t quite as scientific about the way we went about things back then, so I may well have missed some of the best of both. We do have, however, a couple of bottles of the 2005 De Iulius sitting in the wine fridge with a drink by date around 2015.
Since the lay down style wasn’t a serious proposition in our neck of the woods until we got hold of the wine fridge I don’t drink a lot of Semillon, and if I hadn’t needed to fill out a carton from Rockford when I was told I could obtain three bottles of Basket Press Shiraz I mightn’t have ended up with three bottles of the 2005 Local Growers Barossa Valley Semillon.
As noted elsewhere I tend to leave wines like this until visitors land on the doorstep, but summer’s on the way, we need to clear the wine rack in case we’re away with the Little House of Concrete locked up as the temperature and humidity go through the ceiling in December and January, so as far as possible what’s in the wine rack goes in the fridge or down the gullet, so what’s in the fridge needs to go down the gullet, if you catch my drift.
We sat down on Saturday night for another go at the roast chook I’ve started to enjoy and a bottle of the Local Growers seemed like a reasonable accompaniment. And, in a word, it was.
As an ‘05, it’s in the lay down style rather than the early drinking variant, though you probably wouldn’t want to go more than another two or three years. It’s a cork closure rather than a screwcap, so I’d be inclined to polish off the remaining bottles in the near future rather than waiting until, say, 2011.
In the glass, it was a bright yellow, crisp and refreshing on the taste buds with some buttery toast elements on the palate. There’s still a bit of youthful character there, but four years in bottle have thrown some nice mature notes in as well. Went well with the chicken, and would also go down well with lunch over the coming summer.
In fact, the winery’s publicity material described it as a wine that invites itself to lunch but it’d be a quite welcome addition to the dinner table as well....