Lovedale is both a vineyard and a wine. The site was selected in 1939 by legendary Mount Pleasant founder and winemaker the late Maurice O’Shea. It was planted in 1946, with Semillon accounting for more than two-thirds of its 31ha. The first Lovedale Semillon was made in 1950 and the wine is today considered one of Australia’s (and the world’s) finest semillons, evidenced by its place in the Langton’s Classification. Handpicked grapes are de-stemmed, crushed, must chilled and the juice settled. The clear juice is racked off, warmed up and inoculated with a neutral yeast. A slow, cold ferment retains fruit flavour. One month after fermentation the wine is blended, stabilized and sterile filtered prior to bottling. Lovedale is released with five or more years of bottle age. The nine vintages released between 1999 and 2011 won 29 trophies and 57 gold medals in Australian and international competition. As James Halliday says: ‘Lovedale is one of the greatest Australian semillons, with a life span measured in decades, not years’.