2017 Brokenwood ILR Reserve Semillon

98 POINTS

Ken Gargett - WinePilot.com

The stunning 2014 ILR was from the Trevena Vineyard and they have repeated the dose with the 2017, both stunning vintages. Trevena was planted in 1926 on the white sandy soil adjacent to Hermitage Road. 11% alcohol and a gleaming very pale lemon hue. The nose reveals early hints of development but there is so much more to come. We have citrus, toast, lemon curd, hints of nuts, a touch of beeswax and glacéd fruits. Great intensity, and yet there is also immaculate balance; such length! Fine acidity, this wine is just beginning what promises to be a glorious journey, surely twenty years plus. After trying this wine, if you are still not convinced that great Hunter Semillon deserves its place among the great white wines on the planet then I cannot help you. It goes without saying that a wine of this quality at this price is a ridiculous bargain.

98 POINTS

James Halliday - Halliday's Wine Companion

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.

97 POINTS

Decanter World Wine Awards

Anyone trying this extraordinary wine, marked by classic Hunter cleanliness and freshness, might be surprised to find that it came from a summer season with temperatures that topped 35⁰C here for 32 days in a row, with a run of three days at around 45⁰C in early February. 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. Articulate now, but further storage will reward.

96 POINTS

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. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.

95 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

ew semillons scale the heights of consistency and excellence that this wine does. August 2023 release. It’s got gentle development in faint creaminess to texture, despite the chalky pucker and chew. Scents show off nougat, light honey toastiness, lime, lemon, dried apple. It’s lovely to take a big whiff of and the palate echoes those characters well. Tense acidity is a mainstay, the length of flavour extreme and palate staining in a gentle sense. The gentle development lends a sweetness to fruit, but geez, that pure, cool, citrusy and mineral-laden acidity is a force. It’s wonderfully balanced and extremely good.