Margan Family Winegrowers
Sémillon “Hunter Valley”
2009
12.5% ABV | Price: about $18*
These sémillon grapes were grown on 40 year old vines in Margan’s volcanic “Fordwich Sill” vineyard in the Hunter Valley. The wine is pale gold with a greenish cast. Its nose is a little funky, a little stinky, like a barn or sweaty leather (but this wine saw no oak, so this is probably not Brett). It also smells of lemon oil and thyme, and on the palate it’s bright and citrusy and a tad frizzante, which is pleasing. But it has a soft, hollow place in the middle where I expect the fruit to flower open, and it gives me a bitter bite just before sliding into an edgy, tart finish.
Maybe that bite is minerality from the volcanic soils. Maybe the wine is wildly too young. But mostly the wine just feels a tad unintegrated, all elbows and knees. It’s hard to write about, but—there you are.
*I received this wine as a press sample.
