Brokenwood: latest Semillon releases plus a word on the “outstanding” 2014 Hunter Valley vintage

Classic green tinged Hunter Semillons: one of the world’s great, unique wine styles

I tend to think of Brokenwood’s Semillons as on the fruity end of the spectrum for the Hunter but, make no mistake, as I discovered a vertical of Brokenwood Semillon and a vertical of Brokenwood ILR Semillon when I attended the Hunter Valley producer’s 40th anniversary celebrations, they last a heck of a long time too.  My notes on two excellent recent UK releases below together with Chief Winemaker/MD Iain Riggs’ thoughts on how the latest 2014 crop will pan out – Semillons and the whole kitten caboodle!

Brokenwood Semillon 2012 (Hunter Valley)

Very zesty, grassy and lemongrassy with kaffir lime on the attack – lovely intensity from the off where many Hunter Semillons are backward coming forward.  A bright beam of pure lime juice makes for a long mouthwatering finish with an underlying tufa/white porcini Hunter minerality.  On day two it’s still looking tight, limey and well focused – a really good example for 2012 which was not the best of years for Hunter Semillon.  10.5% abv.  According to Brokenwood’s vintage report, after a perfect start to the year, a slow moving high pressure system west of Tasmania brought on humid drizzly rain for the Australia Day week. The Semillon crop level was higher than usual and ripening a bit behind previous years and then, with the cooler wet weather, it became a game of patience. Brokenwood adequately covered its needs for Semillon but did have to spread the search to Broke and the Upper Hunter. Everything picked by mid-February.  £17.80 at Free Run Juice.

Brokenwood ILR Semillon 2007 (Hunter Valley)

In contrast 2006 was one of the driest on record and high temperatures and low ground water meant an early start to picking with Brokenwood kicking off on the 17th of January 2007. Brokenwood harvested from 18 different vineyards for its largest ever Semillon intake.  This generous, expressive Hunter Semillon reflects the warmth and dryness of year with its lingering lemon curd, hot buttered toast and honey notes.   A warm, round hot rock minerality too.   And, being the Reserve (which is made for ageing), its hum of ripe lemony and steelier grapefruity acidity maintains balance and length.  More than a few years in this yet. 11.5% abv.  £29 at Free Run Juice.

2014 vintage report

January 2014 preliminary report: with 2014 being my 32nd Hunter Valley vintage, you’d think there would be no surprises left. Not so with this year being the earliest of those 32 years and I’d suggest a lot more before that. There’s always odd blocks picked just after New Year for sparkling base and someone reported Traminer being picked at Arrowfield between Xmas and NY in the 70s. For vintage 2013 we kicked off on the 16th January and 2014 was looking to match that except the Semillon started rolling in on the 8thJanuary. These weren’t odd blocks as everyone was into picking. Being a very warm ripening we did expect low acids but some of the early Semillon maintained high acid at 11 baume and some grassy characters. The 2014 Semillons will be a bit fuller than ’11 or ’13 but will have the structure for longevity.

The lead up to 2014 followed the same pattern as winter/spring of 2012 (leading to vintage 2013) but with 60mm of extra rain in 2013 mainly in November. Total rain in the last 5 months of the year was 207mm or in technical terms ‘bugger all’. We saw that the lower crop and foliage in 2013 handled the rain and the same should apply for 2014 if we do get rain. There will of course be debate about the reason behind this reasonably dramatic shift in picking dates. Climate change will be mentioned but if we had access to picking dates from say O’Shea starting in 1923 and then every decade right through to now we might have a better handle on it; is it just part of a large climatic cycle? Looking at Brokenwood in the drought year of 1983, the Shiraz was picked a week earlier than Semillon, 31st January compared to 10^th February. The years 1984 to 1990 saw similar dates with reds and whites being from 10^th February on. By the early 1990s the Semillon stayed in that first week Feb while the Shiraz wasn’t being picked till the first week of March. Since 2000 the picking dates have moved steadily closer to New Year.

Brokenwood starts Shiraz grapes (in perfect condition) on the 2^nd February and current indications are that we are in for a sustained bout of hot weather. Hopefully not as hot as the southern states with Beechworth looking at a week of 40+C and Adelaide the same. The vineyards at Orange, Cowra, Gundagai, Murrumbateman, King Valley and McLaren Vale all look in good shape. Our International crew for Vintage 2014 hail from China, Canada, USA and South Africa.

12th March 2014 follow up report: At the time of writing, Brokenwood has not only finished the Hunter fruit but tucked most of the Shiraz into barrel post malolactic ferment. I’m already on record as saying for this vintage out of 10 this is an 11. There are many pointers to this being an outstanding vintage and it is true that some winemakers are favouring the reds over whites. Brokenwood seems to have a very good mix of top quality across all styles. Yes, the Semillon’s are a tad fuller (lowest alcohol is 11%) but they have luminous green colours and sufficient acid to be long lived. It seems like all great red vintages, ‘they made themselves’. The top three in the last 30 odd years here at Brokenwood; 1986, 1998 and 2006 were all no fuss affairs. Another telling factor and backed up by a local winemaker (who took some of his 2014 reds to a media dinner) was that they found themselves drinking the youngster with dinner, they were so complete and balanced. Great colour, alcohol sitting either side of 13% and lovely extract a feature.

Brokenwood started on February 4^th (not the 2^nd) with Mistress Block and continued over the next two weeks. All the old vine Graveyard and Verona Shiraz was picked by 12^th February and all reds picked by the 19^th. January and February had 48 dry days and the only significant rain, 33mm fell on the 20^th February. Running concurrent to the Hunter reds and involving winemakers Simon and Stu covering a lots of kilometres, was of course Beechworth with Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir all being picked in early Feb. Now a month later all that is left is Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo and Petit Verdot. We also have the first Tempranillo into barrels. McLaren Vale Shiraz rolled in last week and more on the way. The Vale seems to have escaped the harsh conditions the Barossa had in the lead up to vintage. Orange has been interesting. Forest Edge Chardonnay came in 10 and 11 March with terrific numbers of 12 baume and 9gms of acid. The region did have 96mm of rain for February and so far 67mm in March that has slowed ripening.