Sémillon

the Gamay producers of Texas but it's not about trying the unusual wine or some kind of you know odd unicorn and for me it's about having wines that are just really delicious and so I had a dinner with two of my best friends in wine this week and I had a bottle of Santa Barbara Chardonnay that I bought at the winery when I was there in 2023, and, you know, I only make sort of 1,800 bottles of this wine, so it's, you know, six barrels and things like that, you know, that really stand out.

I've got a bottle of Lovedale Semillon from at Williams, so Hunter Valley Semillon, with all that age behind it, but, you know, 20 years is... a short time in Fanta Valley Semillon that would be something or maybe the nest egg Shiraz from when I did a vintage at Bird in Hand in 2014 but really the answer to this question is fortified wine I mean this is the wine hack that I would you know I mean I would wish more people would drink these wines because they are incredibly delicious so Whether that is a gorgeous Amontillado sherry, I'm really fortunate to work with Fernando de Castilla and their Antique Amontillado is one of my favourite wines of all time.

I think that Adira really holds a place in my heart.

I've never been to the region, I'd love to see it, but just the wines and the quality are... unlike anything and the um uh i think had a a 50 year old uh justino's tarantash so kind of obscure madeira grape it really is um on another level i mean whatever uh the best wines in champagne can do as much as i love them i think like that is a cerebral wine and if you wanted a desert island wine to uh sort of you know sit and watch as the apocalypse comes uh i i think you um yeah you'd struggle to do better than that and port wines as well uh i just think that um i had i was fortunate enough to taste one of dirty neapolitan 1900 colettas and just mind-blowing and it was in a blind tasting next to a 2021 graham's stone terraces so the sort of top vintage port how could you have 121 years of difference between two wines which are both beautiful and you can drink both wines and and yeah just kind of insane so and if no one has any questions or wants curious about joining the muster of wine program it's not it's not all upside it's certainly not easy it's a big investment you have to know of money time and yeah some of your soul And if you want to know about that, I'm always happy to talk to people and I probably will encourage you to do it.

And along the way, they picked up more vines.

Now, there's not really great records of the vines that were collected, but if you think about the grapes that were being grown in these areas at the time, you can expect that they picked up some Chenin Blanc, some Semillon, and some Muscat varieties.

So the ship and its motley crew and all of its randomly collected vines arrived in an area called Botany Bay.

And Botany Bay, well, doesn't it just sound perfect for growing things? Nope.

And these weren't just any cuttings.

He was taking cuttings from some of the very best vineyard sites in Europe.

He introduced Semillon to the Hunter Valley.

Vines were being planted in the Hunter during the 1820s, and Busby becomes one of the important early figures in its development.

I love Eden Valley, Clare Valley, Riesling.

I've had some good Simillon, like a lot of people from Hunter Valley.

And I love Tasmania.

I love Tasmanian wines.