Tasting Notes

TASTING NOTES

Pale green in colour, fruit characters of lemon, pear, green apple, white nectarine combine with more complex characters of lemon brulée, mineral, oatmeal and lemon grass from the natural yeast component and lees stirring while the barrel fermentation characters show as a smoky, toasty vanillin combo. The fine structured palate has a smooth creamy texture from maturation on yeast lees brought in check by spicy savoury oak and mouth watering citrus fresh acidity. This style of wine is best served slightly chilled with your favourite seafood (a great alternative to Chardonnay). With careful cellaring the 08 Juniper Semillon has a medium term cellaring of 8 about years.

WINEMAKER’S NOTES

Margaret River Semillon is very distinctive and at Juniper Estate we are aiming to produce a fine elegant complex wine with medium term cellaring potential from this wonderful variety. Barrel fermentation and maturation on yeast lees is used to build texture and structure along with a touch of smoky complexity without dominating the fruit characters and maintaining elegance in the wine.

VITICULTURE & WINEMAKING

Variety Semillon 100% (planted 1984)
Region Margaret River, Estate grown
Vintage 2008
Oak 30% new French barriques, 100% barrel ferment
Months in Oak 10 months on yeast lees with some stirring post ferment
Picking Date 5 March, hand-picked
Yield 8.5 t/Ha
Baumé 11.7 Be°
Alcohol 13.5 %
Trellis VSP
Ferment In barrel
pH 3.30
MLF 0 %
TA 6.4 g/L
RS 0.9 g/L
Yeast Neutral & natural
Production 195 cases
Bottled Feb 2009