2023 Braemore Semillon

The Hunter Valley experienced another relatively cool and wet growing season throughout the 2022 growing season with mother nature delivering another 1350mm of rain over the vineyard during the 2022 calendar year which is just under double the 760mm long-term average. Fortunately, the predictions of the La Nina conditions easing and neutralising towards the end of 2022 were in fact correct, and the rain virtually disappeared for the critical ripening months in early 2023.

The cooler conditions throughout the growing season led to one of the latest vintages for many many years in the Hunter. The various blocks across the Braemore vineyard were picked between the 11th and 20th of February (about two weeks later than normal). Some patience was required to make sure the fruit reached its full phenological ripeness and balanced acidity.

he hand-picked fruit is run across our state-of-the-art vibrating sorting table to ensure that only the absolute highest quality bunches get through to the press. The grapes are then whole-bunch pressed to minimise phenolics, and fermented with our specially selected neutral yeast to enhance the varietal purity. At the completion of the fermentation, the wine spent five weeks resting on its yeast lees prior to preparing for bottling.
Stylistically, the 2023 Braemore is classically shaped with impeccable purity and precision. The internal concentration and intensity/energy are always a hallmark of this pedigree vineyard, resulting in a wine that will provide great current drinking as well as being an absolute belter for the cellar.

11.3% ABV