Brokenwood ILR Reserve Semillon 2017 ~ Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia

96/100 James Suckling
96/100 The Wine Front
95/100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
96/100 James Suckling (2015 vintage)
95/100 Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (2015 vintage)
94/100 Tom Cannavan (2015 vintage)
94/100 Ned Goodwin MW (2015 vintage)

Gold - Decanter World Wine Awards
Gold - 2023 Royal Adelaide Wine Show, Finlaysons Trophy for Best Semillon in show
Gold - 2023 NSW Wine Awards
Gold - 2023 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards
Gold - 2023 Royal Sydney Wine Show
Silver - Decanter World Wine Awards (2015 vintage)

James Halliday "From one of the masters of developed semillon, helped in this instance by the great semillon vintage. Its bouquet half suggests the use of oak – not true. It's a hypnotic wine, with Meyer lemon driving the citrus circus and the wheels of acidity."

Decanter World Wine Awards "Anyone trying this extraordinary wine, marked by classic Hunter cleanliness and freshness...The vines had had adequate rainfall prior to midsummer, though, and the secret to Hunter Valley Semillon is early picking. It is this that makes it an inarticulate wine in its early years – but with time comes character. After six years, you can see growing aromatic richness, as innate toasty, smoky notes begin to join the subtle lime fruits, while on the palate the structure of acidity – intense to the point of inscrutability in the early years – is beginning to deepen, to soften and to modulate towards something more aromatically resonant. During all this time, of course, the wine maintains its overall lightness and delicacy, the legacy of just 11% abv."

James Suckling "An iridescent mid-yellow flecked with green, the color of semillon from these parts nudging adolescence, little more. Loads in store, attested by a faint whiff of buttered white toast and lemon drop. The acidity, febrile and gloriously juicy, carries the flavors extremely long. The wine is typical featherweight, belied by the intensity of flavor at its core. This is exceptional. Inimitable. Benchmark wine."

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate "The 2017 ILR Reserve Semillon is already toasty and voluminous in the mouth. It leads with cold buttered toast, the distant whiff of fresh coffee, lemon myrtle, honeysuckle, grapefruit pith and brine. It undulates and courses through the long finish."

James Suckling "Such a beautifully polished and gently developed semillon with aromas of fresh lemon and lemon butter, as well as yellow grapefruit. So pure. The palate has a glazed sheen that has built up in the bottle now, and there’s fleshy lemon flavor with a discreet push of acidity below. Good ripeness and poise." (2015 vintage)

Erin Larkin, The Wine Front "The 2015 ILR Reserve Semillon is so toasty and spiced. It has sun-drenched honeysuckle (a character I saw in the 2019 Oakey Creek Semillon as well), creamed honey, sandalwood, curls of saffron, layers of leaf (an autumnal, undergrowth, lichen character that is not dissimilar to aged Champagne—a yeast autolysis thing) and exotic spices such as star anise/fennel through the finish. I like this wine so much. I am well familiar with the 2014, and each vintage retains the vineyard DNA through the seasonal fluctuations that the vines endure and thrive in. It's like the vineyard produces a structural clarity. This has a remarkable splay of flavors and textures derived from bottle age and immaculate cellaring." (2015 vintage)

Decanter World Wine Awards "Restrained aromas of toast and flint with lemony fruit. Maturing beautifully, steely and focused, super fin and bright." (2015 vintage)

Tom Cannavan "Younger vines here, around 10 years old, on sandy alluvial soil. The recipe is very similar: no oak, no malolactic, and bottled early from stainless steel. Again, that beautiful development here, adding a touch of flint to toast and lemon curd. The palate has a little more weight that the Tyrell's it feels to me (though slightly lower alcohol), and a bursting orangy brightness to the fruit. Delicious lemon jelly purity swept up in acidity in the finish, gives this salty savouriness as well as pleasing fruit brightness." (2015 vintage)

The ILR Reserve Semillon is named after Chief Winemaker and Managing Director Iain Leslie Riggs, who joined the winery in 1982. Iain has taken Brokenwood from a small ‘hobby’ winery into the national and international arena, and was the driving force in Brokenwood extending the range to white wines.The ILR Reserve Semillon is an aged white wine that receives no oak.

After tasting the wine over the first three years the decision was made to release at 5 years bottle age, in other words to have some bottle development but capable of aging further. In terms of winemaking it was a case of low (and now, zero) skin contact and neutral yeast.

Established in 1970 Brokenwood Wines is one of Australia's most reputable premium wine labels and a must-visit in the Hunter Valley. It was established by Australia's leading wine critic, James Halliday. Consistently listed as a 5 star winery, Brokenwood is home to the famous Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, the highly acclaimed ILR Reserve Semillon, and the popular Cricket Pitch Range.

The Hunter Valley is the best-known and most highly prized wine region in New South Wales. It is known as the region where the Australian wine industry started. The valley's winemakers have pioneered two distinctive styles of wine (oaked Chardonnay and dry Semillon) and has retained a strong connection with both of them. The Hunter Valley's most famous wine style is its distinctive dry Semillon, made there since the 1870s. Hunter Valley Semillons are renowned for their ability to improve with age.

Sémillon is one of the wine world's unsung heroes. The gold-skinned grape produces France's most famous and revered sweet wines, notably Sauternes, and some of the greatest dry white wines of Australia - particulary those in the Hunter Valley.