The Barossa is an ideal region for late harvest style white wines given the quality of Semillon in the region and the warm weather conditions that continue well into late vintage.
Chief Winemaker Andrew Wigan had the good fortune of winning a trip to visit France in 1982 at vintage time and enjoyed a rare opportunity of spending time in the vineyards at Chateau d’Yquem – unquestionably then, and still today, home to the greatest sweet white table wine in the world. Walking through the vineyards he could see the same deterioration in the grapes that he had seen in the fruit being received at his own winery back in the Barossa! What he had assumed to be common spoilage in extremely ripe Semillon in fact was Noble Rot - Botrytis Cinerea.
Andrew returned armed with the confidence that what he was experiencing in the vineyards back in the Barossa was identical to what he’d seen in Sauternes. He was determined to master Noble Rot and create Peter Lehmann Wines own expression of Botrytis Semillon. 25 years on from that moment of inspiration in the vineyards of Chateau d’Yquem, he is more than ever convinced our Botrytis Semillon is a Barossa classic.