Results unveiled: Brokenwood Semillon, d’Arenberg Shiraz are highlighted
The DECANTER World Wine Awards asserts that it is “Assuredly the world’s largest wine competition,” with breaking records this year for the most wine entries to date with 18,250 wines evaluated from 57 countries.
Amongst the highlights from Old Bridge Cellar imports, include the Brokenwood Hunter Valley Semillon 2022 with a score of 92 points, and the d’Arenberg The Lovegrass Shiraz (spiked with a touch of Viognier) with 93 points. John Duval Wines’ 2021 Entity Shiraz was noted as “Powerful … dense and plush, opulent and generous,” by the judges in their wine review.
Australia’s Hunter Valley wine region and the Brokenwood label were highlighted with a “Best in Show” rating for the 2017 vintage of the ILR Semillon. (OBC’s current US vintage for ILR Semillon is 2014, with a 99-point rating from Halliday Wine Companion). Along with a 97-point rating, the judges took time to iterate the uniqueness of this best-cellared white wine: “The secret to Hunter Valley Semillon is early picking. It is this that makes it an inarticulate wine in its early years – but with time comes character. After six years, you can see growing aromatic richness, as innate toasty, smoky notes begin to join the subtle lime fruits, while on the palate the structure of acidity – intense to the point of inscrutability in the early years – is beginning to deepen, to soften and to modulate towards something more aromatically resonant. During all this time, of course, the wine maintains its overall lightness and delicacy, the legacy of just 11% abv.”
The 2017 vintage of Brokenwood’s ILR Semillon was also listed as one of the “Top 50 Wines of 2023” in a separate article, online.
Find more commentary on Old Bridge Cellars’ imported wine regions in the article, and the wine judging, the judges, and the entire operation in the video below, or by visiting the Decanter website now.