2017 was a rare Hunter vintage, rain absent, and both shiraz and semillon flourished. The pale straw-green colour of this wine is startling, showing no development. The palate is superb, lime and lemon fused with mouth-watering, diamond-drill acidity. Drink by 2048.

Bright, light yellow colour with intense lemongrass aromas, hints of straw and wax, barely any toast evident at this stage, the palate intense and long, concentrated and driving, without bigness or heft but light on its feet and super-precise. Fills every corner of the mouth effortlessly: an outstanding semi-mature semillon. Superior concentration and persistence here. This is ageing very slowly and will be long-lived. Drink: 2023–2033.

Tasted as part of a vertical of the Vat 1 Semillon: 2022 - 1998. All bottles were sealed under screw cap (magical) and, as such, were in pristine condition. The beauty of progression through the years showed glorious bottle age complexity and a strong indication that these wines will keep going and going, endlessly through the years. Marvelous, singular stuff here; the majesty of this particular aging arc cannot be overstated.

The 2017 Vat 1 Semillon represents an excellent Semillon vintage in the Hunter Valley, and it is here that we start to see the majesty of aged Semillon begin to unfold. Sun-drenched hay, caper brine, wisps of black tea, crushed shells, a whiff of Szechuan peppercorn, lemongrass, green apples and cold buttered toast. In the mouth, the wine is texturally silky (with a weighty fall, like heavy gauge silk) and lingering. It moves with momentum rather than outright speed (like watching a whale shark swim: they might move slowly, but they swim fast), and it has a clarity and freshness in the mouth that is astounding. This is a super wine, an evocative wine, an imaginative wine. It's a wine on the up, with miles to go before it sleeps. Drink: 2022 - 2047