2024 Brokenwood Oakey Creek Semillon, Hunter Valley

After two years in the bottle, this wine remains has a luminous pale green colour with pale yellow tints. A fragrant nose of lemongrass and orange citrus blossom, typical of young Hunter Semillon. Beautiful fruit weight, with Tahitian lime flavours complemented by a juicy acid line that keeps the flavour lingering.

In its current youthful stage, this Semillon feels like early Spring, crisp, pure, and tightly structured. It has a sleek, polished mouthfeel and wonderfully persistent flavours. While it will transform into a rich, honeyed, toast-laden luxury with a decade in the cellar, right now it is all about clarity and energy.

This is the perfect wine heading into the weekend. Try with stir-fried bug tails mixed with salted egg yolks and curry leaves, or a charcoal-grilled snapper with green shatta.

About this wine

Oakey Creek is one of the great Semillon vineyards of the Hunter and was purchased by Brokenwood from the Drayton family in 2021.

The fruit for this wine is sourced from the heart of the Flat Block, itself a parcel that has been the foundation of Brokenwood’s Semillons for over three decades. The grapes are hand-picked, crushed, chilled and pressed immediately before inoculation with a neutral yeast strain. The wine is then bottled within a few months, in line with all classically styled Hunter Semillons.

About this producer

Hunter Valley based Brokenwood was established in 1970 by Tony Albert, John Beeston, and James Halliday, with first vines planted in Pokolbin the year after. Since the early 1980s fruit sourcing has expanded beyond the Hunter, and today, the well-regarded wines are made from grapes grown in Orange, Central Ranges, Gundagai, Canberra District and Tumbarumba (NSW) as well as Beechworth (VIC), Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale (SA), and finally Margaret River (WA).

The winemaking team is lead by Stuart Hordern and Kate Sturgess, while work in the 64-hectare vineyards is guided by Katrina Barry.