2011 Brokenwood Wines Oakey Creek Semillon Hunter Valley Australia 750 ml

The world’s most complex, long-lived dry whites can come from the most unexpected places, including Australia’s Hunter Valley. The combination of terroir and grape variety—an unlikely match uniquely suited to the sun-soaked Land Down Under—gives Hunter Valley Semillon a one-of-a-kind blend of subtlety, complexity, and verve found nowhere else, and in terms of value, well, there’s no competition.

Quite simply, no winery does Semillon better than benchmark Brokenwood, who put this combination on the map, and made this value bottling a constant in our cellars alongside marquee wines that cost three times as much. Its stunning Semillons can age for decades, adding richness and complexity to the vibrancy and lemon-lime zest of their younger selves. After eight years in the winery’s cool cellar, the 2011 Brokenwood Oakey Creek Semillon has just begun to hit it its stride, offering mouthwatering crispness and layers of preserved lemon and lime etched with honeysuckle, wild herbs, and a hint of toasted chestnut. This unoaked beauty will continue to improve for upwards of two decades. 

In the same way that breezes from the San Pablo Bay cool down hot and sunny Napa Valley, the chilly wind off the south Pacific lowers temperatures in Hunter Valley—just north of Sydney—allowing Semillon grapes to retain their vibrant acidity and zip. While the region has been under vine since the early 19th century, it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that the combination of Hunter Valley’s unique terroir and Semillon’s early ripening brilliance took the world by storm. Today, Hunter Valley Semillon is a mainstay in the world of white wine—and in our cellars.

Almost 50 years later, Brokenwood has become a standard bearer for Semillon and all of Australia with winemaker Lain Riggs at the helm. As James Halliday wrote, “In 2017 Iain Riggs celebrated his 35th vintage at the helm of Brokenwood, offering a unique mix of winemaking skills, management of a diverse business, and an unerring ability to keep Brokenwood’s high profile fresh and newsworthy.” 

Of course, what really keeps Brokenwood’s profile amongst the Australian elite is the beauty and charm of wines like the 2011 Oakey Creek Semillon. The flash of the state-of-the-art winery and the gusto of its heralded winemaker serve a mighty cause at the end of the day: one of the finest examples of Semillon to be found in the world.