Mount Pleasant (McWilliams), Semillon Elizabeth, Hunter Valley 2017 - 75cl
Hunter Valley Semillon is one of the wine world's quiet oddities: picked early at barely 11% alcohol, fermented in steel with no oak, then held back for years until bottle age transforms it. Mount Pleasant has been doing this since Maurice O'Shea founded the estate in Pokolbin in 1921, and Elizabeth is its long-running cellar-aged Semillon, released only when it has begun to shed its youthful austerity. This 2017 came out with around five years on it, made during Jim Chatto's tenure at a winery Halliday named its 2017 Winery of the Year.
It's 100% Semillon, dry, light-bodied and closed under screwcap, and it drinks nothing like a young modern white. James Halliday gave the 2017 95 points; Tim Atkin 94, with a window running to 2032.
The nose has gone savoury and complex: lanolin, lemon oil, lime and lemongrass, buttered toast and a whiff of linden flower. The palate stays taut and low-alcohol, with preserved-citrus and green-apple freshness, a thread of honey on toast just beginning to show, and the tangy, mouth-watering acidity that keeps these wines alive for decades. It's long, faintly saline, and only part-way through its life. Drink now for the citrus-and-toast phase, or hold to the early 2030s as the honey and toast build.
How to Serve
Serve at 8-10°C in a standard white wine glass. It doesn't need decanting, but the toast and lanolin notes come forward as it warms slightly, so resist over-chilling. Keep any bottles you cellar upright and cool.
Where to Drink It
Bentley's on Swallow Street, an aged Semillon made for a plate of native oysters. J Sheekey, with the fish pie. Scott's in Mayfair, alongside grilled Dover sole.
Food Pairings
This is oyster and fresh-crab territory, or simply grilled prawns with lemon. The bottle-aged toast also makes it good with a plate of smoked trout, and it cuts nicely through a mild Thai fish curry.
