2017 Brokenwood ILR Reserve Semillon

Brokenwood’s ILR Reserve Semillon is released only from the best years. The fruit for this year’s ILR Reserve is sourced from the Trevena Vineyard on Hermitage Road, an important Heritage Vineyard, with vines having been planted in 1926.
Brilliant very pale straw colour with highlights of green around the outskirts and a watery hue. Lifted scents of lime juice and green apple have an oily toast like overlay with some lemon, wet steel and faint bees wax notes also evident. Zesty lime and green apple fruits meld into a back drop of lemon butter, oily kerosene like characters, bees wax and steely mineral elements. Just beginning to build texturally it finishes dry with crisp acidity and a long focused aftertaste.
Drink over the next 6-8 years.
Alc. 11%

Other Reviews….
From one of the masters of developed semillon, helped in this instance by the great semillon vintage. Its bouquet half suggests the use of oak – not true. It's a hypnotic wine, with Meyer lemon driving the citrus circus and the wheels of acidity. Drink by 2042.
98 points
James Halliday – Australian Wine Companion

Few semillons scale the heights of consistency and excellence that this wine does. August 2023 release.
It’s got gentle development in faint creaminess to texture, despite the chalky pucker and chew. Scents show off nougat, light honey toastiness, lime, lemon, dried apple. It’s lovely to take a big whiff of and the palate echoes those characters well. Tense acidity is a mainstay, the length of flavour extreme and palate staining in a gentle sense. The gentle development lends a sweetness to fruit, but geez, that pure, cool, citrusy and mineral-laden acidity is a force. It’s wonderfully balanced and extremely good. Drink 2023-2040+
96+ points
Mike Bennie – The Wine Front

An iridescent mid-yellow flecked with green, the color of semillon from these parts nudging adolescence, little more. Loads in store, attested by a faint whiff of buttered white toast and lemon drop. The acidity, febrile and gloriously juicy, carries the flavors extremely long. The wine is typical featherweight, belied by the intensity of flavor at its core. This is exceptional. Inimitable. Benchmark wine. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.
96 points
JamesSuckling.com