First Creek Hunter Valley Semillon 2014

Hunter Valley in New South Wales might not be the first place you'd think of if you wanted to plant a vineyard, even though it is Australia's oldest wine region. The weather's all wrong, the summer sky is frequently covered by cloud and it gets most of its yearly rainfall in three months of unrelieved sogginess. But there's no truth, however, in the rumour that it's been twinned with St. Helens.

First Creek Semillon is a wonderful expression of a classic Hunter Valley grape, light and imbued with citrus and orange blossom, but developing weight and softness over five years bottle ageing. But let's not wait, eh, it's fairing up a bit, we should enjoy it while we can!

First Creek Wines is a family business established in 1998 by the Silkman family, Greg, Shaun and Liz.

The Semillon grapes are crushed and pressed, and the first 500 litres of each tonne of grapes are extracted as free run juice. The free run and the pressed juice are fermented separately, following which the wines are clarified and some of the pressed wine is blended back into the free run wine to give a little more richness and weight.

The wine has aromas of lemon and orange blossom which typify the clean and fresh characteristics of the grape, both flavoursome and elegant. It will gain softness and body with up to five years cellaring.