Cameron Douglas: Askerne Semillon 2021

The Wine: Askerne Semillon 2021, Hawke's Bay RRP from $23.99 

A perfect bouquet of waxy citrus peel and yellow flowers, apple and peach. A seam of dry stone minerality and a gentle fruit spice quality adds complexity and charm. A dry wine with a satin-cream touch on the palate followed by flavours of tree and citrus fruits, quince and a developing complexity.  

Lanolin – waxy oily smell and taste- very positive in wine, but zero to do with lanolin oil from woolly animals like sheep. 

This wine has great integrity for several days in the fridge and will age well in the cellar also. 

The Season: 2025 in Hawkes Bay has the potential to be one the better vintages for most varieties cultivated. A warm and dry Spring led to some early flowering delivering an early harvest and some significant volume. Overall the fruit quality was high and from what I have tasted so far from producers has ranged from very good to down-right outstanding. 

The food match: With a young Semillon – oysters can work well, I prefer to eat sushi or prawn dishes with rice. Chicken and Pork dishes tend to work also, the real trick is aim for dishes that have a salt lick about them and definitely very low to no spice.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from news Talks at b fourteen.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
To eleven and our master Somlia. Cameron Douglas has chosen
for his wine this week and a Skern Semillon one
from hawks Bay for retelling it about twenty four dollars.
He's with us, snag get a Cameron, good morning. That's right,
A semeon.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Both pronounciation, yeah, both pronouncings. Pronunciations are correct. If you're French,
you tend to swallow the end of the words, so
you say, and.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
We love It's an year, Okay, sophistication on Saturday Morning. Yes, yeah,
I think yes.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Seme On.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Seme On very good. Okay, So tell us about the wine.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well. Semeon is in a grape that heralds from Bordeaux
in France and cultivated around the world and does particularly
well in hawks Bay, New Zealand, as a dry white
wine right through to a sweet dessert style can be found,
and this particular one is really, really nice. It has
this wonderful sort of waxy citrus peel, apple peach bouquet

(01:14):
and that follows through nicely on the palate with a
little bit of fruit, spice and dry stone minerality. It's
a wine with lots of charm and a satin cream
type texture. It's not too dissimilar. It has some touch
points that are not too dissimilar to Sauvignon blanc, but
it doesn't have that tropical herbaceous drive of Sauvignon blanc.

(01:34):
There's a really interesting you know, I use that word
waxy before, and it's this oiliness that you get in
the bouquet of the wine. But it doesn't have a
particular chemical makeup, but it is similar to the lannyl
and oil you might find in some other fruits. Yeah,
so that's where the waxy word comes from.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Okay, so tell us about the season.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Well, twenty twenty five has the potential and is showing
to be true with all of the wines I get
to taste to be one of the better integers for
the region and New Zealand. It had that dry spring,
lots of flowering and low wind, which meant that the
crop levels were higher and they had an earlier harvest.

(02:18):
In fact, overall harvests tending towards a lot earlier this
year round as well.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, Okay, what would you match you with.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, if you're going for a young, dryer style of semon,
then you and unoaked oysters work particularly well. My preference
leans toward that sort of sushi sushimi, prawn rice dishes side.
But if you like semeon with a tiny bit of
older barrel or oaken there, then you can lean into

(02:47):
that chicken pork dishes. They work particularly well. Also, anything
that's got a little bit of saltiness in it in
the food, you know, sort of that Jamie Oliver sprinkle
of salt works well with this one because it's got
great acid line. It's particularly high on acid. So it's juicy, fresh, delicious,
just a lovely one.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
And what does that mean for lasting in the fridge?
Will it last few days?

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah? It's one of those wines I get to, you know,
I put the wine in the fridge and taste it.
I bring it out, bring it to room temperature, and
taste it. So over a two or three day period,
this wine holds its integrity. It tastes exactly the same,
which means that you can spread it out over a
few days, or if you're a one glass a day person,
or you can pop it in your salafas every year.

(03:30):
Semion ages particularly well, oh very good.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Hey, thanks Cameron. So Cameron's picked for us this week
and a Skern Semion from hawks Bay retails of about
twenty three ninety nine. The details will be on the
News Talks.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
He'd be website for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.
Listen live to News Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio