Chalk this Gundog Estate The Chase Semillon 2019 as another winner. I can’t keep up with how big Gundog’s d’Arenberg-esque sized range is now (let alone all the Canberra and Hilltops wines. When is the release of 24 single-vineyard wines with indecipherable names Matt?) but the quality is right up there – especially for the Semillon and Shiraz.
This Sem comes from the revered Somerset Vineyard, which is the well that keeps giving for Hunter vignerons. It’s like Willowlake in the Yarra or the Hoffmann family vineyards in the Barossa – ie the goto grower plots for exceptional fruit. There’s a classicness to the lines of The Chase Semillon which all points to A-grade winegrapes too – a surety of acidity and fruit power. The style is understated and reserved, yielding less now and more later, all line and length and purity, with the only thing missing here being time. It’s maybe a step off flagship level intensity, but only a smidgen, and even then this may grow in bottle.
Best drinking: Wait. Five years and it will be even more interesting. 18/20, 93/100. 11%, $35. Would I buy it? Yes.
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