Tyrrells Vat 1 Semillon 2000 (Hunter, NSW)
$40, Cork (which snapped in half), 11.1%
Winery Website
The most curious thing about this wine comes from the back label, which announces ‘excellent drinking now and through until at least 2008’. That’s mighty conservative for Tyrrells, whose 98 vintage Vat 1 is still accumulating silverware on the show circuit. Erring on the side of caution?
Regardless of what the label says, this is still developing. Yellow, green yellow in colour the nose is a little shy, with lanolin, citrus and yellow apples, leading to a palate that is just beginning to get the lactic, ‘are you sure there’s no oak in here’ richness of older Hunter Sems. Behind that there is a dry, green apple dryness and pithy, lingering acidity that is all so very Vat 1 in its intensity.
It’s a wine in progress, this Semillon, with the first flesh of age injecting some roundness to the mid palate, yet without taming the crisp ‘I am still green’ fruit flavours. It’s only an average Vat 1, with a little ill defined soapiness on the palate, yet when viewed as a white wine, when placed up against the sweet Sauvs and insipid Pinot Gris that flood the Australian wine market, this presents as a very drinkable, exceedingly well structured drop. 17+
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4 Comments
Shame about the cork eh? I had the same problem with the '99 but no such concern with the 2000…
I completely agree that 2000 was an 'average' Vat 1 but an intriguingly different one at that. 2008 was definitely a conservative forecast from Tyrrell's.
Excellent write-up on the Hunter by the way. Who knows? Maybe some of those new Tyrrell's/Thomas Braemore wines will worm their way towards SA……
Thanks Chris,
Do you see much Hunter Sem down your way? I thought that when in South Australia you are only allowed to drink South Australian wines (along with Coopers, Southwark & Farmers Union Iced Coffee) 🙂
Seriously though, what is the availability and acceptability of Hunter Sem in SA? It's an endangered species in Melbourne bottleshops…
Not as much as I'd like to see.
Tyrrell's Vat 1, Stevens Vineyard and their cheaper examples (Lost Block/Old Winery), Mount Pleasant's Lovedale and Elizabeth (Museum release too), the standard Brokenwood (not ILR), that cheapish Lindemans one and the occasional Margan is about as far as it goes over here. Anything else and you'd have to do some serious searching.
In a standard bottle shop your best bet would be an Elizabeth or Old Block but pretty much nothing else.
People over here certainly accept Hunter sem but there's been a huge push on the local stuff recently, especially from the Barossa. Personally I think Peter Lehmann's Margaret is sensational.
Fair comment about the parochialism of South Australian drinkers but I haven't seen anyone drink a Southwark for a while 🙂 Too much Squires going on
I use my trusty Ah So ( German made) cork extractor on old corked wines two spring blades glide down either side of cork and twist pulls the cork out in one piece even old corks.
Ive introduced quite a few friends to the pleasures of old Hunter semillon over the years and agree its one of our outstanding wine styles .. Nothing else in the world to match it.
I opened a 2000 Vat 1 about six months ago and its still got some development to go but drinking very nicely for a medium quality year