An Aussie seductress to knock you sideways

published 4 November 2016

2015 Gundog Estate, Wild Semillon, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia (about £22, Alexander Wines, 0141-8820039; Uncorked.co.uk; WorthBrothers.co.uk).

Real-life reportage from your columnist this week! The other day, a MoneyWeek reader grabbed me at one of my events saying she'd been to Hunter Valley in New South Wales on holiday and was wondering if a rare wine called Gundog Semillon was available in this country. A eureka moment I told her it's just arrived and, not only that, I'm pouring it on my 100 Best Australian Wines Roadshow events over the next few months. I'm in Manchester Town Hall on 12 November with 48 other wines in tow, so do come down if you're free!

Anyway, Gundog Semillon is part-fermented on its skins and there is still a degree of sweetness left within this wine (10 g/l), which helps to balance out its raucous acidity. The clue is the lightness of touch it is only 9.5% alcohol.

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I must admit to being knocked sideways by this seductress not least because it is so different from other dry Semillons. The tasting note I came back to again and again was not the obvious lemon notes leaf, blossom, zest, grass and balm but rather the tantalising tisane scent, which is so delicate and demure that it captivates the senses and sends you into a semi-trance-like state.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.