Winemaker's Comments

Hunter Valley Semillon is one of the world's most uniquely regional wine styles. This vineyard, situated on a sandy/loam strip along Oakey Creek Road, Pokolbin (hence, The O.C.), was planted in 1998. Earlier vintages of this wine were made in a riper more generously flavoured, contemporary style, however we have since realised this particular vineyard is more suited to the classically styled Hunter Valley Semillon.

The lower yields experienced again from this vineyard in 2023 led to it being the very first Semillon to be picked this year, although the cooler growing season delayed that picking by about two weeks. Whilst it has a slightly riper feel than we've seen in recent vintages, the core of fine acidity is still a defining feature of wines made from this wonderful patch of dirt. We yielded just over six tonnes of hand-picked fruit from our allocated rows which have resulted in a relatively small production of only 363 dozen.

The Len Sorbello Trophy - 2023 Winewise Small Vignerons Awards (Best Young Semillon)

Tasting Notes

This wine bolts straight out the gate with classic Hunter Semillon character; tangy citrus, touches of gentle green tropicals, a steely mineral vein, and a whisper of freshly cut grass. It’s a linear and focused wine, full of energy, a lovely phenolic nip and bracing acidity. Delicious, well-textured and tangy, just add your seafood of choice with a squeeze of lemon. 

Bottled        16th May 2023
Production  363 dozen 
Alcohol       11.2%