2018 Brokenwood Wines Semillon Hunter Valley Australia 750 ml

Brokenwood is a benchmark producer of Australia’s Hunter Valley region, one of the “most respected estates,” as described by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. The focused and intense Semillons crafted by Lain Riggs can age for decades, adding richness and complexity to the vibrancy and lemon-lime zest of their younger selves. The 2018 Brokenwood Hunter Valley Semillon is just a baby but positively packed with a zesty acid backbone making its pithy grapefruit and citrus peel aromas that much more vivacious and energetic. 

The 2018 vintage ushered in an uneventful “stress-free" harvest, Riggs told Wine Spectator, and also produced a slightly richer style than in previous years, making the wines even more enjoyable in their youth. But over two or more decades, this unoaked stunner will improve and develop deep, honeyed and nutty complexities. 

The flash of Brokenwood’s state-of-the-art winery and the gusto of its heralded winemaker serve a mighty cause at the end of the day: for one of the finest examples of Semillon to be found in the world, look no further than this 2018 Hunter Valley Semillon—an under-$25 bottle that will last the next 25 years in a cellar. That’s an investment of $1 a year per bottle—for a serious pleasure-filled return.   

In the same way that breezes from the San Pablo Bay cool down hot and sunny Napa Valley, the chilly wind off the south Pacific Ocean lowers temperatures in Hunter Valley, which sits just north of Sydney, allowing Semillon grapes to retain their vibrant acidity and zip. While the region has been under vine since the early 19th century, it wasn’t until the mid 20th century that the combination of Hunter Valley’s unique terroir and Semillon’s early ripening brilliance took the world by storm. Today, Hunter Valley Semillon is a mainstay in the world of white wine—and in our cellars.

After almost 50 years of cultivating Semillon, Brokenwood remains a standard-bearer for Semillon in Australia. Chief winemaker Iain Riggs as been at the helm for 37 vintages. Australia wine guru James Halliday has written that Riggs’ experience brings “a unique mix of winemaking skills, management of a diverse business, and an unerring ability to keep Brokenwood’s high profile fresh and newsworthy.” 

We typically think of white Burgundy, or bone-dry high-acid German Riesling from Pfalz or the Mosel when we talk about the most complex, long-lived dry white wines in the world. But the dry Semillon wines coming out of Australia’s Hunter Valley are shaking things up, combining a unique blend of subtlety, complexity, and verve found nowhere else, and in terms of value, well, there’s no competition.