The Best Hunter Valley Semillons by Roberta Muir

The Hunter Valley, Australia’s oldest wine region, is synonymous with semillon. This classic French grape was first planted there in the 1830s, and was often called Hunter Valley Riesling or White Burgundy.

Global plantings of semillion are small and where it does appear in Europe (mainly Bordeaux) it’s usually blended with other white grapes. So the Hunter Valley is the international home of single varietal semillon wines. And what a diversity of styles there is. Here are a few of my favourites and the recipes I like to serve them with.

2023 Late Picked Semillon

This late-picked Hunter Valley semillon is like a mouth-filling fruit salad with citrus, tropical and stone fruit all getting a look in. There’s a nice zesty finish to balance out the sweetness and I love it with a frozen dessert such as creamy Philadelphia-style ice cream – I even drizzle a little over the top for an extra treat.

Philadelphia Style Ice Cream Recipe by Roberta Muir of Be Inspired Food Wine Travel

While classic French ice cream has a crème Anglaise egg custard base (see video below), quick and easy Philadelphia-style ice cream doesn’t contain egg. Sometimes called American ice cream or New York ice cream, Philly-style ice cream is simply flavoured cream churned into a frozen treat. Some people claim it’s lighter than custard-based ice cream, but I think it’s just different. When done right, both are creamy and delicious, but there’s no doubt Philadelphia-style ice cream is quicker. I often make it when I have syrup leftover from poaching fruit such as quinces. Especially with quinces, the syrup can absorb a lot of fruit flavour and it seems a shame to throw it out once the fruit’s been eaten. Without the eggs to stabilize and enrich it, Philadelphia-style ice cream risks being a bit icy and thin-tasting. That’s where my favourite ice cream making trick comes in, adding invert sugar to help prevent the mixture crystalizing as it freezes. I often use glucose syrup, but heating sucrose (common sugar) creates an invert sugar too, so the syrup that fruit has been poached in is invert. Philadelphia-style ice cream’s connection with the city of the same name is tenuous. Some say it’s merely an attempt at reflected glory, as the former American capital was once known for high quality foods. Others say desserts of cream, sugar and eggs beaten over ice until they had the consistency of soft-serve, were served at early presidential dinners there. If you don’t have any fruit poaching syrup handy use a flavoured syrup such as Crawley’s. Regardless of the flavouring, serve your Philadelphia-style ice cream with a glass of luscious dessert wine such as De Iuliis late-picked semillon from the Hunter Valley, and add a little splash of it over the ice cream too!