Vat 1 Semillon is an extremely refined wine style with strong regional character. The young wines show plenty of pure fresh lemony curd fruit characters and a clean steely, almost bracing acid backbone. Over time the wine becomes extremely complex, with a golden colour, honeyed, straw-like aromas and a soft, immensely complex and flavoursome palate. It is this capacity to develop so beautifully that has given Vat 1 an extraordinary reputation for cellaring. Typically the fruit is derived from the mature Short Flat vineyard ranging from 90 to 50 year old vines and are dry-grown on primarily sandy alluvial loams. No supplementary irrigation is used. The fruit is hand-picked in late January and early February at relatively low sweetness levels making these wines some of the lowest alcohol wines produced in Australia. The juice is clarified before a relatively cool fermentation in stainless steel. Depending on vintage the wine receives between one and eight weeks yeast lees contact to increase overall complexity. The wine never sees new oak but is matured prior to bottling in stainless steel.