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World Wine Travel Writers Seek White Wines from New South Wales
Our World Wine Travel group made an unexpected discovery: outside a few well known regions, Australian wines are very poorly distributed in the US. Bummer! This month we’ll focus on white wines from New South Wales if we can find one. If not, we’ll interpret the theme very liberally with another wine from Australia or some other creative connection. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see what we’ve been able to dig up!

Hunter Valley Semillon
Despite what the promotional material says, Hunter Valley is a hot, almost sub-tropical climate. Located at 32-33° latitude, it is at the limit of the typical 30-50° latitude belt for growing grapes. It sits on the Tasmanan Sea side of the Great Dividing Range, so it gets much of its rain in the summer. It has a long history of growing grapes, but these are very unusual conditions! Hunter Valley Semillon (they pronounce the “ll”) is harvested super early to avoid the autumn stormy season. It’s a high acid, citrusy unoaked refreshing white wine. It’s harvested so early, it usually ends up less than 11% abv. As a young wine, it is often quite neutral, even simple. Surprisingly, it ages beautifully, acquiring notes of toast, honey and hay.

WSET Fascination with Hunter Valley Semillon
My guess is that the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) fascination with Semillon is due to its importance for historic sweet wines like Sauternes from Bordeaux. Looking elsewhere in the world where it is grown, Hunter Valley in Australia appears. Hunter Valley Semillon is covered briefly even in introductory WSET level 2. WSET loves to include it in tasting exams where it can very easily be mistaken for an inexpensive Italian Pinot Grigio. One of the wines in my May 2021 Diploma tasting exam was a Tyrell’s Hunter Valley Semillon 2019 with 10% abv. It takes a brave blind taster to call it a simple wine with low alcohol, but that’s what would score points!

Silkman Blackberry Vineyard Semillon Hunter Valley 2015 ($38 at wine.com) 10.5% abv
Eye: Pale lemon
Nose: Medium intensity aromas of apple blossom, bright fresh lemons, lime, seashells, slate
Mouth: Dry, tart high acidity, light body, low alcohol, medium intensity, medium plus finish. Flavors follow the nose highlighted with bright lemon/lime, seashells and distinct slate note, finishing with a touch of almond.
Observations: I looked for the oldest Hunter Valley Semillon I could find, hoping to taste some of the flavors associated with aged Semillon. Alas, my wine was a well made, nice refreshing wine, but it had not acquired the signs of age yet. I guess I will need to exercise more patience with a future bottle.

Hunter Valley Semillon with Shrimp and Rice Noodle Summer Salad
Hot summer days lead to easy recipes and minimal heating of the kitchen. In Minnesota, we love our sweet corn, so we’re always willing to boil a pot of water. We enjoyed our refreshing Hunter Valley Semillon with the Shrimp and Rice Noodle Salad, perfect on a summer evening.

World Wine Travel Writers Explore New South Wales Whites
Take a look below at the wines our writers found, you’re sure to find something that will interest you, too. How about your market, do you see New South Wales wines on your shelves? Why not join our chat? Just look us up on Saturday July 23, from 10-11am CDT on Twitter. You’ll find us at #WorldWineTravel. Hope to see you there!

• Jeff with Food Wine Click! is sharing “Why Does WSET Love Hunter Valley Semillon?“
• Wendy with A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Yellow Tail Wine Round 2 and the Weekly Menu“
• Terri of Our Good Life shares “Simply Summer’s Best: BBQ Pork Steaks and Rock It Like a Redhead Sauvignon Blanc“
• Nicole at Somm’s Table shares “Tyrrell’s Hunter Valley Semillon and Seared Salmon Steaks“
• Gwendolyn Alley of Wine Predator shares “Burning Man 2022: Waking Dreams, Secretly Abandoned Spaces, Minstrel Cramp, and the Fox in the Henhouse“
• Deanna with Wineivore shares “Korean Bar Snacks with Biodynamic Somos Orange Verdehlo Wine”
• Cam of Culinary Adventures with Cam shares “A Sémillon from New South Wales + A Snack from Japan”
• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles shares “Semillons from New South Wales Australia – comparing the young and the old”