Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon is one of Australia's great white wines and has the capacity to age superbly in the bottle. This release continues the recent immaculate line up of Vat 1s that show classic citrus floral and honey aromas. The palate is dry, yet full-flavoured with lovely crisp acidity. Still only a relative baby in terms of Vat 1s longevity, this bottle will reward you for decades to come.

With an average vine age of 66 years, Vat 9 2016 is a blend of the 1892 8 Acres block, 1968 Contour block, and 1968 Weinkellar east block. All these blocks are dry grown and feature similar soil types, red volcanic clay over limestone, which is ideal for super premium Hunter Valley Shiraz

Pale gold in the glass, with green highlights. The nose is lifted and aromatic with white blossom, ripe, yellow stonefruits, toasty oak characters, and a complex nuttiness, shot through by minerality. The palate is rich and textural, with layers of fruit, balanced by citrus-like acidity. Long and finely detailed on the finish. 100% Chardonnay from vineyards in the small appellation of Ladoix.The soils of the upper slopes are pebbly and reddish (iron-rich olite) with a high limestone content and quite marly. These suit great white wines. The grapes are harvested by hand and then directly pressed in a pneumatic press. Alcoholic fermentation takes place entirely in French oak barrels, of which 30% are new. The lees are stirred (bâtonnage) occasionally during ageing, which lasts 10 months. Jaffelins history is inseparable from that of the Collégiale Notre Dame de Beaune (the Notre Dame collegiate church in Beaune). Over the centuries, their cellars have housed the wines of the Collégiale and the Cardinals. The cellars changed ownership in 1816, when the Jaffelin brothers established themselves as negociants in the region. Today their wines rest in the monastic tranquility of the Chapitres cellars, just as they did eight centuries ago. Jaffelin entered a new chapter in its history in 2004, after completely renovating the vat room, and equipping it with modern winemaking equipment. They strive to bring out the Burgundy terroirs, cru by cru, wine by wine, at every stage of the winemaking process.

Pale, straw colour with insinuations of green. Overt, ripe varietal fruit characters on the nose - pineapple, citrus and nectarine derived are from the warm vintage conditions. Mineral characters, orange blossom and almond meal along with some lees derived creaminess are all balanced within this multi-dimensional palate.

Released with bottle age this is a wine which will still continue to evolve over many years the toasty lemony flavours becoming richer and more intense. A classic benchmark Hunter Semillon, it has earned its place in the Langtons Classification of Australian Wine.

'We are tasting the Tyrrell's 2006 Vat 1 semillon, a Hunter Valley wine which, at sevenyears old, is still a juvenile, easily capable of another decade of good drinking. Its longevity is at the very heart of what makes it so astounding. To think of it as a one-year-old is a different story: gangly, acid, water and neutral flavour, not astounding. Vat 1 also shows us you don't have to pay big dollars for greatness.' - Canberra Times, Jeni Port, 10 Apr 2013. Extract from 'What makes a great wine?'

The freshness of this wine demonstrates why Hunter semillon is possibly the most under-rated wine style in the world. The aromas centre around lemon, lime and fresh hay, and the palate is decidedly linear, based on a spine of acidity. This exceptional wine, at six years of age, is still at least five away from its optimum drinking window. 'Little or no colour change; the bouquet is distinctly aromatic, but still focused on primary fruit, not toast or honey; the palate is electrifying, drawing saliva from the mouth with its mix of unsweetened lemon juice/lemon zest and life-giving acidity, the DNA of great Semillon.10.9% alcohol.' (2009 Vintage) - 97 points. - James Halliday February 2016.

Vat 47 from the Hunter Valley has a silky bouquet of melon stone fruit and creamy oak that is followed by a palate of extraordinary balance and length. An absolute classic and will only get better with some medium term ageing.

The fruit for the 2016 Vat 9 Shiraz was sourced from Tyrrells super premium vineyards on the Ashmans property with an average vine age of 50 years. Predominately from the Weinkeller and Short Flat vineyards. Winemaking The blocks were all hand picked and sorted in the vineyard before arriving at the winery. All the fruit was then destemmed but not crushed, followed by fermentation in traditional open top concrete vats. After fermentation the wiens were matured in newer 2700L French oak casks for ten months.